Cold Criticism
by Daesaster
Summary: "MARSHALL notices something's up between those two. They've been acting weird since the Bi-annual Gumball Ball. On top of that, the Vampires are in need of a proper Queen."Ice King really sucks at writing Fanfiction, according to Gunther, and everybody else. Can a penguin out-write a King? First ff I've written .Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1: Prelude

"Fionna! Grab my little paws!" Cake's paws extended outward from the magical mass of cat and bat. Fionna tugged on Cake's paws, effectively releasing her from Marshall's grip. He lost his balance and fell forward onto one of the many spears that were jutting out of the soil with a sickening splat noise. He squeaked in pain and shrunk down to his normal self. There he lay, impaled on top of the mausoleum. His breathing was shallow and pained.

"Marshall?" Fionna quickly picked herself up and dashed to him.

"Oh, this is bad guys." He was almost whispering. Fionna frantically clambered up the side of the mausoleum. Cake followed after, and they both knelt down beside the wounded vampire. "This is really bad." The sun began to rise.

"Marshall!" Fionna sat there, astounded. What could possibly have prepared her for this situation? There was a wet blotch forming around the spear on his shirt. As the sun's rays began to find their way over the landscape, Marshall's skin simmered. He exhaled weakly. Cake stretched around him to block the light. Fionna leaned in closer. "Come on! You _gotta_ be okay!" Marshall squinted at her and gave a feeble chuckle.

"I think this is it for me, Fionna. So…" He gasped for air. "…Why don't you just admit it? You're in _love_ with me." She gasped, and sadly, slowly bowed her head. She inhaled, trying to keep it together.

"I get that you flirt with me all the time, and it's funny and whatever," Tears began to flow. "But you're doing that now?!" She grabbed the sides of her hat, practically bawling. "What are you trying to do to my head?! You think I've got some little _crush_ on you?!" She blinked away a few tears. Marshall was taken aback. "Well, for whatever time we have left… FOR ONCE DROP IT, YOU FREAK!" This had gone too far. Marshall shot up, and removed the spear as fast as he could.

"Faking it. Faking it!" He threw away the spear and unbuttoned his shirt. "Okay, my shirt is like, _filled _with cream puffs!" They leaked out with a goosh noise.

"Oh, Goodness!"Cake stopped holding her breath. Fionna stared on in disbelief.

"Glob, Fionna." He wiped the sweat from his forehead. "You're like, the _realest_ person I've ever met!" Suddenly her fist collided with his cheek. " AUH! MY CHEEK-MEAT!" He grabbed at the red spot on his face. Fionna had snapped. She raised her fists, crying and laughing. "Quit clownin', Fionna." She came in closer and closer. "Fionna? FIONNA!" She continued to hit him, laughing away.

* * *

"The end." Marceline crossed her arms. A collective din of approval emanated from Slime, Toast, Wildberry, and Turtle Princess. Ice king threw up his arms in disapproval.

"Ohhh, Come on! You guys got mad at _me_ for a bad story?" He walked over to where Marceline was floating. "I mean, it's _cute_, but…That's not how they'd be!" Marceline growled a little."Look, it might not be too late to polish this piece. Let's spitball some ideas! Like… if Marshall Lee gets sick and dies. But, he's got a brother we didn't know about! His name's… Marshall…Lee…roy. Boom! Shocker!" He felt Marceline's leg, which was sorta creepy. "Ahhhh, I feel goosebumps!"

"I like how it is." Slime Princess set off another round of praise from the princesses. Ice king's face grew into a frown.

"Everyone get out." The princesses and queens sauntered away from the castle, murmuring about the story. He sighed and turned to me. He continued toward the stairwell, no doubt to worship his Fionna and Cake shrine. Piles upon piles of books collected there. He had enough time to himself to write them all, I suppose. I'd spent enough time around the guy to know that it was probably best to let everyone else handle him right now. I was really sick of this guy's whining. He was always blaming stuff on us. Ice King wasn't really one for creativity. I mean, look at our names.

The 'Fiona and Cake saga Volume Five' laid there on the ground beside his throne. I absent-mindedly flipped through it. It was definitely and interesting idea, and now it had a fanbase of five. Unless the author counted. Ice King was obsessed, but you don't need me to tell you. The story started off pretty well, but he didn't seem to get that you can't just randomly add yourself as a character in the story. Phasing out of the book? Did he truly believe that someone as awesome as that would instantly think him a 'cool rad guy'? I felt sorry for him.

He had spelled the title on the cover wrong. He had terrible printing. Half the time I couldn't tell what was going on. The spelling, grammar, punctuation, and vocab were appalling. Many of the events were uncoordinated and unconnected and random. He was really doing his characters injustice.


	2. Chapter 2: Genesis

Compared to Ice King's, Marceline's story was pretty good. But there were still some things to work out. Not enough character interaction. She also portrayed Marshall as…for lack of a better word, a dick. I couldn't imagine Marceline ever harming Finn or Jake, she was better than that. Maybe it was simply to compensate for Gumball's goody two-shoes. But for a dry run, it was way better than Ice King's. He always admired Marceline, and he came to visit her a couple times. He would sing her songs rather disturbingly with a long black wig on. And deep down, I'm sure she had a close bond with him. So why did he just throw it back in her face like that? The reason Ice King doesn't have any friends is because he didn't understand the fact that he wasn't always right, he didn't comprehend the feelings of others.

I stopped flipping and came upon a few blank pages at the end of the book. Maybe I could help him out. Or, I could just ignore him entirely and write my own take of it. There were a few pencils mingling with the dust bunnies under the couch. I reached for one of them, bringing back with me most of the dust. I wish he'd just clean the place. I blew the dust off of my pencil and began to write.

* * *

"_What_ happened, exactly!?"Marshall glared angrily at Gumball, pulling up his sleeves. Gumball choked on his response. Fionna jumped in between the two.

"No! It wasn't like that! He-" Marshall pushed her out of the way.

"You are so…DEAD!" Marshall's face erupted into a vampiric snarl as he lunged forward, ready to deal some damage. His path was interrupted when Fionna's fist collided hard with the right of his face. He flew diagonally from his intended path and landed hard on his left shoulder. Gumball inched closer to a panting Fionna.

"If you would CALM THE BAZOOBS DOWN and listen to me for just a second, we could sort this all out. It wasn't like that." Her fists were still clenched. Marshall struggled to get back up, but just laid there.

"What was it like, then?" A large red spot on his face looked like it would form a bruise later on.

"It wasn't him. He was iced to the ceiling. It was the ice queen in disguise. _She _was taking off the _disguise,_"explained Fionna. Marshall chuckled. He wiped something off of his mouth, then stood upright, shoulder toward them.

"You may have gotten my attention, but you expect me to believe that story?" He pointed toward Gumball without looking at either of them. "You better watch your back. If I see you again…" Marshall didn't finish his sentence and walked away. Gumball was cowering behind Fionna at this point. Marshall grinned to himself. He showed Gumball. There was nothing Gumball could do to separate Fionna and him. She was practically his.

* * *

It was a good start. It wasn't very original, but I could work with it. It was much less childish than the ice king's silly little stories, but it did tie into the earlier ones. And I could also relate it to Marceline's story. In fact, I could probably just pick it up right from where she left off. Being original wasn't important now. I had already found my topic. "Gunther! What do you think you're doing with that?" I nearly jumped out of my skin. He rushed over and took the book from me. "How many times have I told you not to touch these?" The page I was writing flopped open when he opened the book again. "Gunther…Did you scribble in my book? That's not a good thing for penguins to do! You go stand in the corner, missy!"

"Sorry, I didn't know."

"No, you weren't! You were jankin' up my story!" He pointed to the corner.

"I don't like you sometimes."

"No, you don't get dinner tonight." Sometimes I swear he doesn't understand a word I say. Like he only hears 'wank' noises or something. I spent about an hour in the corner, waiting for him to leave. He finished his supper, and then took his book back downstairs. I waited for him to leave, raided the fridge, and started looking for a book of my own. I checked the uppermost floors of the house. I found a couple ninja magazines, some wizard flyers, and a whole bunch of soggy newspaper clippings that had flowery poetry scrawled on them. But no empty books. There would probably be some downstairs… but I would get in trouble if he saw me. I needed to write down my ideas so that they wouldn't get left behind, so I chiseled a couple ideas into a nearby iceberg. Turtle princess would definitely enjoy this story. Funny how much you get to know a person when they're constantly held captive in your house.

He went out the next day, probably back to wizard city or wherever. This time he took his demonic wishing eye with him to prevent Gunther from destroying half of Ooo. I slid downstairs and milled through piles upon piles of books. Most of them were so full that extra pages were taped into them. I moved to the piles closer to the statues. It was really creepy that there were giant fanfiction characters chiseled into my basement. But probably not as creepy as the giant cell in the living room or the smaller cages that came with it. Still no empty books… I saw a black one right up against the statue. I walked up to it and opened it. Totally empty. I hurried back upstairs with it and drew a dramatic picture of Marshall on the front. I titled it 'Marshall's Madness' and flipped back to the first page. I tapped the pencil against my head, trying to figure out how to start the story.

Maybe I should just start it from the point where Marshall is introduced. He didn't appear in the stories very much after that point, other than appearances as a background character. But he wasn't a background character. He was the bad boy. I decided that the story would be more interesting if he was bad, like in Marceline's story, so his character was going to stay the same. Time to unleash my story.


	3. Chapter 3: Confrontations

Marshall straightened his red plaid shirt and checked his teeth. He ran a hand through his hair to make sure it was sitting right. Everything looked good. He headed off to go to the Bi-Annual Gumball Ball. It sounded like it should be fun, but generally parties in castles were for the prim and proper. He was surprised to get an invite, but there was no way Marshall was going to get any more formal than he normally was. People were flocking around the entrance to the castle. The door was tall, so Marshall floated between the green curtains just above the crowd. The large hall was decorated nicely with pink and purple banners, tables full of candy, and Jelly Kinders stuck to the ceiling. Did PG authorize this? He surely knew that they were alive… Marshall smiled. Gumball tells everybody that he's sane, but when you get close you can see the truth. Marshall floated up above the crowd, right beside the talking piñata named Mandy.

"Hey Marshall. It's been a long time since you've been inside the castle." Marshall turned to her.

"Mandy? Glob, it's been a while, hasn't it?" He started floating around on his back. "Time passes quickly when you get to be my age."

"Why did you stop visiting? You were the only one that could get up here to visit me. It seems everyone else has forgotten about me." Marshall floated up in front of her.

"Sorry. It's just that me and Gumball sort of…" He struggled to explain.

"Why don't you go enjoy the party? I'll just hang around." She gave a cheery smile, but he knew the pain of being forgotten. Quite well.

"Hey! It's like, Marshall Lee! Get your lumps down here!" Lumpy Space Prince had managed to alert the entire party of his presence, so he had to come down and socialize.

"LSP, sup?" Marshall didn't know LSP very well, but he tried not to be awkward. LSP was the worst person to be awkward around. They talked for a while about idle things like relationships and new cell phones and Lumpy Space.

"Hey! You weren't invited!" Mandy yelled from the top of the ceiling. Then Marshall's blood went cold. Another supernatural being was in the room. That could only mean…her. White hair, black ragged clothes that were 'cool'.

"Marshall! I wasn't sure if you were going to be here." Ashley. The one that ruined his life.

"Hey." He gently grabbed her hand. "Why don't we get some snacks?" The party continued when everybody saw that it was no big deal. He walked her over to the corner of the room where the tables of food were. He offered her a doughnut. She accepted it and took a medium bite out of it. "So, why are you here?"

"To see **you**, of course. I haven't seen you in a while…" She smiled her devilish smile. The one that Marshall could never forget.

"That's because I hate you. Or… don't you remember?" He said with his usual cynicism.

"Oh, you're not still mad about that, are you? I just wanted to see you again." Marshall clenched his fists.

"No, of course not. You only tried to reprogram me into thinking that you weren't shallow and desperate. Why would I _possibly_ hate you?!"

"I was saving our relationship. Isn't that the point of all this…love?" Ashley was stroking Marshall's back. He violently pushed her away. "Oh, calm down LeeLee. You know you'd do anything for me, after all I did for _you_." She smiled. He grabbed her wrists and leaned in close.

"_You_ almost trapped me in eternal slumber. _You_ let a human girl see all of my _private _memories. _You_ sold my entire world for a _magic stick_." He stared furiously into her eyes. She was afraid. He kept his voice down, so that he wouldn't attract attention. He knew that she would still be able to hear him. "I don't owe you anything after the way you treated me. I am _your_ King, _you_ do not control me!" Ashley was the type who yells when she gets nervous.

"JERKWAD! I JUST WANT TO BE WITH YOU!" Ashley screeched in a fit of rage, flailing to get out of his grip. He was stronger than her because he was older, but she was throwing a tantrum. The break up must've damaged her mind or something because this wasn't the Ashley he remembered. The cool, calm exterior was nowhere to be found. By this point everyone in the castle was looking, murmuring. Prince Gumball rushed into the room.

"What the junk is going on in here?" Marshall looked up and saw everyone staring.

"She's not on the list, sir." Mandy stated bluntly. The vampire was slightly embarrassed, but he was the King of his court. Composing himself, he let go of her and replied.

"You have an uninvited guest. She isn't welcome here." Ashley's face was still fear-stricken. There was a collective expression of confusion amongst the crowd. "Gumball, would you tell your…" Marshall stifled a laugh at the half-bananas that passed as security. "…Guards… to remove her?" Understanding crossed the prince's face. He signalled his guard and they grabbed Ashley.

"LeeLee…" She was in tears. It was a wonderful sight.

"Ash, I never want to see you in this realm again." She struggled against the guards and flew into a fit of rage.

"MARSHALL!" Marshall grinned at the sight. The guards had to bind her hands with licorice rope and drag the screeching girl out by her feet. Once she was no longer heard, the party lost interest and continued.

"Was that…" Gumball inquired as he approached Marshall.

"Yeah. The psycho-jerk girlfriend." Marshall released his posture and began to float again. "Glad that's over with. I don't think I could take another minute being all…diplomatic like **you**." Marshall floated around Gumball, poking him.

"Hey! I-" Marshall clamped a hand over his mouth, using the other's pointer finger as a fake mustache for himself. He put his nose in the air, and stood perfectly straight.

"Yes…indubitably…" Gumball pulled Marshall's hand away from his mouth.

"Bullgunk! I'm not like that! I act like a prince, unlike _some_ people." Gumball crossed his arms. Marshall began levitating again.

"Blaah, Blaah, Blaah. I'm a King, and I do what I want." Gumball rolled his eyes and began socializing with the rest of the party, his bright pink everything standing out in the crowd. Marshall figured he should do the same.

Marshall floated around, socializing with random guests. He was floating backwards, and as he faced the green curtain, Fionna opened it. She was wearing a fancy white dress with ribbons and gold, but she was still wearing her rabbit hat. Cake had probably made her wear the dress, but Fionna was stubborn. She was wearing that hat if she wanted to. Marshall wondered why she was so dressed up. She was probably here with PG. She waved at him. Marshall stuck out his tongue and held up his thumb, pointer, and pinky fingers to show his approval. He floated around the back of the crowd, where Gumball was talking with Cinnamon bun about… something. Cinnamon bun could be very hard to understand at times.

Gumball was fairly happy to see Fionna. Marshall's vampire senses also told him that Fionna's cheeks were flush, and her heart was fluttering. Did something happen between those two? Marshall usually wouldn't care about that sort of stuff, but his interest had been sparked. Fionna hadn't even come over to say hello. Even though he was participating in another conversation with LSP and the Gumdrop Guys, he was straining his ears over the noise to hear what Gumball had to say. "I've been looking for you."

"Well…here I am!" She sounded nervous. Gumball gave an obnoxiously loud laugh. She should be. He could be a bit creepy.

"Hey, I wanna show you something." Creepy. Fionna agreed, and Cake whooped in approval.

"Ooooo! Okay, girl. I'll see ya later!" Cake joined the festivities, and she was a party animal. Though Cake was the one leading the soda shots and starting group dances, she wasn't the one he was really waiting around to hang out with. Fionna was his only true friend, but he liked to let her think that he had more. He was beginning to get annoyed, as LSP never shut up and wouldn't leave him alone. So he decided to head back home. He missed his guitar, anyway.

**[Guys, I don't know enough about what you think of this story. Feedback! I require feedback! Parts you like, parts that need improving... Was someone out of character? In the later chapters, I don't think I'm getting the characters correct. Gimmie some rope, here.]**


	4. Chapter 4: Hot and Cold

Wow. This story was really coming together. I decided to take a break from writing it, because writing for too long could spoil your idea. I didn't want to come back to my story later and decide that I hated it. But I would like some feedback, maybe some more ideas on where to go next. _Marshall's Madness_ would come out to our usual hangout. As I arrived, I saw that Gunther, Gunther, and Gunther were already there. They didn't mind stories. They even liked some of Ice King's fanfics… I guess it was mainly because they were loyal. "Hey, Gunther, what's that?"

"It's a story I've been working on." I held it up so that they could see the title.

"I like the drawing on the front."

"Clever title."

"I like your use of alliteration."

"Well, give it a read. It's still a work in progress." I opened it to the first page and propped it in front of them. There were stifled laughs, smiles, and some disapproval, but all in all it seemed they were enjoying it.

"I think it's better than the original."

"Yes, Marshall's version of the story is more alluring."

"Hey Gunther, how do you know enough about the land of Ooo to write this?" I smiled.

"I have my ways." I pulled the magical orb from my feathers. "The King left his WizBiz account information and credit card number on a sticky note on his computer. I can know whatever I want to know." As they stared at it, an image began to form. It was BMO, talking to his reflection.

"Look, Fubol! I'm a real boy!" "How, Beemo?" Beemo smashed a cookie onto his screen. "See? Eating!" "Oh, like this?" 'Fubol' smashed a cookie against his body. "No, like this!" Beemo slapped a piece of celery against his screen, causing a split-second burst of colour. 'They' just went back and forth for a while.

"Well, that was odd."

"Cool! I want one!"

"But we already have one… why not get something else? Like another Ice crown?" I shushed them.

"Don't tell Gunther. Remember what happened when he got a hold of the demonic wishing eye?" Everyone shuddered. There was a slapping of penguin feet. Gunther came up to the group.

"You guys know where the Wishing eye is?" He was excited. We all found Gunther to be a bit insane. There was an awkward silence.

"No, but Gunther's got a story. You should give it a read." He accepted the book and took a few minutes to read it. We all stayed silent.

"When do they get together?"

"I…don't know yet." I replied, after some thought on the subject.

"Well, if _they _aren't going to, she should hook up with someone. A third party. Maybe an elemental." He handed the book back. I accepted the advice kindly, but that wasn't really what I was going for. I wanted FioLee. I guess I could bring Flame Prince into the story… Nah. That was another story. Maybe one that I wasn't going to write. I didn't necessarily want to recreate real life. FinnCeline would never happen. But it would be interesting. So I kept it. But I was still lost on where to take the story next. I suppose we could have Marshall play some music… Gunther's suggestion had led my train of thought toward more character introductions. A confrontation with Ice Queen would be good too. Possibly even one with Marshall's mother. Ashley could make a reappearance as well… Yes.

"Gunther! Supper!" Ice King's call echoed over the fields of ice. We all headed back toward the castle. On the way there, I hid my book so that no one could wreck it. I wanted it to be mine, and only mine. I continued up the stairs to the dining room, where my plate was already set and everyone else was eating. Fish. I didn't really understand why he fed us, considering there was an ocean of the exact same fish not three miles from the castle. But it probably had a lot to do with his isolation. We were the only 'people' around and he liked the company. The King never really cared for logic. It was easier for us, I guess. He blabbered on about idle things, and we would occasionally answer back. Sometimes he understood us, sometimes he simply put words in our mouths and carried the conversation his way. After I was done eating, I cleared my spot and hurried back to where I hid the book. I had to keep writing so that I didn't forget my ideas. I found my secret cave in the ice and wrote my ideas on the wall, then continued to write by candlelight.

* * *

Marshall picked up his guitar. He loved it as if it was his child. When his sock monkey Hamba was taken from him, he'd replaced it with his guitar. Marshall experienced déjà vu, thinking this thought while looking for his guitar pick. He didn't want to be reminded of Ashley, so he just began to play with his fingers. He wanted to play something he hadn't written himself. He began to sing. "What am I to you? Am I a joke, your knight, or your sister? What am I to you? Do you look down on me 'cause I'm littler? Do you think that I don't understand? I just wanted us to be together and to play as a band. I'll forget that I lost a piece of your hair, I'll remember the pasta that we shared, over there!" He stopped playing because one of his strings was out of tune. As he was adjusting the pitch, he thought about last week, when Fionna made up that song. How Fionna's song was the one that opened the door. It was frustrating to Marshall, as he almost succeeded, but accidentally dropped his song and lost it. It was the most fun he'd had in a while, because he got to bug Gumball and hang with Fionna at the same time. Still, it wasn't filling his songwriting void. He still hadn't found a muse for another song, and he was itching to write one.

He was about to start playing the song again, when Ice Queen knocked on the door. She had flown her drumkit over to Marshall's house again in the hopes that they could practice her song. She thought Marshall was the coolest person in Aaa, apart from herself. Ice queen thought that they made a decent team. Marshall groaned as he floated over to the door. He knew it was Ice Queen because of her irregular body temperature. Although he enjoyed her company, he wished that she would remember him. She was important to him, but she couldn't seem to remember exactly how. She kept trying to hook up with him. But he put on his best smile and opened the door. "Simone. I wasn't expecting you here."

"Who?" Ice Queen puzzled for a few seconds. "Me! Sorry."

"I thought you'd be trying to crash the Gumball ball."

"Didn't feel like it." By how quickly she answered, Marshall assumed that she already had. He was sure that she was here to heal her ego, so he didn't delve any farther. It was generally the same story; She lost, Fionna won.

"Well, you have perfect timing. I just finished tuning my guitar." He gestured inside. She smiled as she lugged the heavy equipment awkwardly over the door frame. Sometimes Marshall was glad that he played the guitar instead of the drums. She untied the bundle of hardware and many of the arms and legs of the drumkit were stuck in a tangle of metal. "Here, I'll help you." Marshall began by moving the keyboard onto its stand and out of the way. In the ten seconds it took him to do that, the Queen had managed to tangle her dress in the bundle of cheap drums.

" Hey Marshall…"

"I thought I said that I was going to help you." He removed a wing nut, allowing one piece of equipment to slide. He pulled it out of the mess and the pieces all scattered on the floor, freeing her dress.

"Thanks. I could've handled that myself." Marshall rolled his eyes as he handed her the nut and the arm to her. He began to slide the legs onto one of her floor toms.

"Have you thought of a title for our song yet?"

"I was thinking 'Boytoys love me'." Marshall kept a straight face.

"Yeah, that's good." He didn't want to hurt her feelings. She did that to herself enough of the time. Marshall was glad that she wasn't trying to lock him up in her living room like she did with the other princes. But it was probably because she either knew that he was too powerful, or that she respected him. He helped her put heavier pieces on, and she sat down to adjust them to her preference. "Isn't it difficult to do everything in that dress?" Marshall couldn't imagine how constricting a fancy dress like that could be.

"Yes, but it's all about appearance." She struggled to adjust the snare drum to fit between her legs. "Yeah, let's start." She brandished her drumsticks and counted them in. Marshall hit the switch on the keyboard just in time to start the song. He began to sing.

"Marshall Lee, is it just you and me in the wreckage of the globe? That must be so confusing for my little bro. And I know you're going to need me here with you, but I'm losing myself and I'm afraid you're going to lose me too." Then they sang the bridge in unison.

"This magic keeps me alive, but it's making me crazy! And I need to save you, but who's going to save me? Pleaaase forgive me for whatever I do, when I don't remember you." The queen gave a cute little drum fill before singing her section.

"Marshall Lee, I can feel myself slipping away. I can't remember what it made me say. But I remember that I saw you frown, I swear it wasn't me, it was the crown!" Her unappealing voice pierced his the bridge in unison again. They repeated the last line and hummed the ending of the song. Marshall was starting to get sentimental again. He would usually avoid the Queen for fear of a breakdown, but he couldn't just send her away. Especially now that they were bonding like this. They continued through the song, and reached the end. They added extra flare at the end, with a big combination drum and guitar solo. Marshall found it easier to hold back tears each time he played it.

"Simone, do you remember anything else?" She concentrated for a moment, then stopped in frustration.

"It gets more and more difficult to remember even my last visit. Sometimes I forget that you actually know me." She wasn't sad like Marshall was. She was being an airhead as usual. This wasn't even serious for her. Marshall supressed his anger.

"That's okay. It was all sappy stuff anyway. I'd rather forget all of that. I have trouble remembering it too." The queen smiled.

"Yeah, 100 years is a long ways to remember back." Marshall strummed out a riff.

"Try 996." He continued strumming. Apart from that, silence. The awkward strain was becoming tenser by the second. "Should we give it another shot?"

"No, I thought we'd do something else." Marshall looked at the queen inquisitively. It was odd to see her in semi-regular clothes. He almost couldn't take her seriously.

"What did you have in mind?" She shrugged in response. Marshall was surprised that he wasn't frustrated with her yet, but he assumed it was because of their previous relationship. He set his guitar gently against the wall and smiled. He went over to the cupboard where he kept all of his movie stuff he grabbed a VCR and his favourite tape. He lugged his small TV out of a closet beside it and set it up in front of his loveseat. "Have you ever seen _Heat Signature_?"

"No. I probably wouldn't like it. I'm too cool for that stuff." Marshall continued to plug output cords into their various ports.

"Well, too bad. It's my favourite, and you liked it when I showed you last." He finished setting it up, and stood upright. He floated to his refrigerator and filled a bowl with various fruit. "Sorry, I don't have any popcorn." He returned to see the queen trying to get decently comfortable on his couch. He rested in midair above it.

"It's fine. I brought some trail mix." They continued to watch the movie, and the Queen enjoyed it, just as she did last time. Not even a hint of déjà vu. By the end of the movie, it was pitch black outside, and Simone was barely awake. She stretched on the couch. The stretch made her look very scrawny. "I suppose I should be getting back home. Would you mind helping me pack these up?" She yawned a wide yawn, facing the drumset. Marshall felt wrong to let her go back home in this dark, carrying all of those drums.

"I was thinking maybe you could leave these here. You wouldn't have to set them up every time you came over."

"I'll just leave them for tonight. I'll come to get them some other time." She went and changed back into her dress. "Maybe you could visit me sometime." She opened the door. Marshall came over to see her out.

"I'd like that." The queen blushed, then took off. Flirting again. Marshall shook his head, then cleaned up. Despite being a creature of the night, he was rather tired. He supposed that it was the party that did it. Marshall got ready for bed, and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

**[Finally got this out! I was waiting so long for the Simon and Marcy episode... the only thing it really did for me was remind me of The Walking Dead videogame. Simon & Marcy = Lee & Clementine. They didn't say anything about how Marceline became a vampire, and the only thing they really hinted at was the early evolution of Princess Bubblegum. I was a little dissapointed... the buildups always get my hopes up too high. But it resparked my inspiration and I'm finally writing again. Sorry again for the wait. But everyone be sad with me about Rebecca Sugar's leaving of AT. She wrote 80% of good stuff from that show, including almost all of the songs.]**


	5. Chapter 5: What time is it?

Marshall would've slept in all day if it weren't for the loud banging on the door. He reached down from his hovering position to grab the pillow and pull it around his head. He hoped that if he just ignored it, the banging would stop. But it was incessant. It could only be one person. Well, it could've been anyone. But the only person he could think of that was brave enough to come near his house if it wasn't an emergency was Fionna. "Get up, dumbhole! I'm bored!" Even though it was muffled by both the pillow and the house itself, Marshall could still hear it. He didn't want to get up. He was still tired, and didn't feel like doing anything. But when Fionna wanted something, there was no stopping her. The door wasn't locked, but she stretched up to his bedroom window on Cake. Marshall still stayed hovering with the pillow over his head. He heard a thump, and then a warm hand was around his ankle. "You better get up…" She was moving him toward the window.

"Ooh, you best wake up. She's getting the scissors!" Cake jeered. Marshall immediately threw the pillow at Fionna. As she fell to the ground, she pulled him down with her. He endured a jarring jerk, but didn't touch the ground. His eyes were barely open. The feathers whooshed out of the pillow as it landed, scissors embedded in it.

"Careful! What if those hit me?"

"What? What's so important?" He rubbed his face groggily, almost angrily. Diverting from his nocturnal tendencies was really taking a toll on him.

"I thought we should do a dungeon today. I found one really close by!" Marshall was flustered and overwhelmed by the chattering.

"Okay! Jeez, can you let me get dressed first?" Fionna blushed and released his ankle when she realized he was wearing only boxers. Marshall wasn't used to seeing Fionna blush.

"Sorry, man. I'm just pumped. There's supposed to be this cool sword-"

"Privacy?" Fionna blushed harder and climbed back out the window. Marshall pulled on the pair of jeans he was wearing yesterday, a clean pair of socks, and a button-up shirt. He also grabbed his leather jacket and his fedora to block out the sun. Fionna, of course, was already at the door again. When she realized it was unlocked, she let herself in. Marshall was brushing his fangs, and saw her rabbit ears and eyes poke up from the ladder to the main floor below.

"Ready yet?" Marshall rolled his eyes, then spit out the toothpaste.

"You don't give up easy, do you?" He floated down to the bottom floor, bumping into Fionna and causing her to fall off the ladder. Before she could brace for impact, Marshall had caught her and plopped her down on the couch. She still exhaled as some of the air left her.

"Glob, Marshall. Your couch is really uncomfortable." Marshall grabbed an apple out of the fridge.

"What do I care? It's not like I use it for anything." He sucked the colour out of it. "Here, catch." He tossed the monochrome apple at Fionna, who caught it while half-propped up on the couch.

"What the junk?" She examined the bite marks.

"Do something with it. I thought maybe you were hungry."

"That's gross. Used food…" She got a devilish smile and threw it at the vampire, who caught it even though he was busy looking for his shoes. He just tossed it outside for something else to eat. "What's with this drum kit? It looks a lot like Ice Queen's."

"Oh... y'know." He mentally kicked himself for not thinking of a better answer.

"No, I don't." Fionna wasn't satisfied. As Marshall found his shoes, he noticed that Cake had been rather quiet. He slipped them on, grabbed his axe guitar, and started floating slowly away from his house.

"We going, or what?" Fionna practically teleported off of the couch. At the mention of adventure, all previous conversations were forgotten to her. Cake was still inside.

"Yo, Cake!" Fionna called for her companion. Cake slowly walked out of the house. Marshall yawned, and his face grew into a terrible snarl. On instinct, she ran back inside the house."Let's go!" Fionna forged ahead, fist held out in front of her like she was suddenly going to fly. Marshall floated along slowly, halfway between the frightened cat and the ecstatic girl.

"Cake,you coming?" She peeked timidly out of the crack between the door and the frame. Cake didn't trust Marshall, and he knew that. He could practically smell it on her. But Cake felt that it was dangerous to leave Fionna alone, especially after the events of the previous night. She dragged herself out of the house, and as soon as she was nearing Marshall, she took off as fast as she could to catch up. Marshall caught up without effort, where he floated alongside Fionna. "So, why so excited to go do this thing?" Fionna's smile widened.

"Well, we were hangin' outside, and we saw sparkles on the house. We chased em' until they led us to this holo-message player and this cartridge." She pulled both of them out of her adventure-pack and handed them to Marshall. He put the cartridge inside of the player and listened to the message that was recorded in the three-dimensional hologram. A Cat entered the recorded area and cleared her throat.

"Hello, girls!" The cat waved and coughed a few times. She resembled Cake almost exactly, but didn't resemble Fionna even a little bit. Maybe she looked like her father… Marshall made a mental note to ask her sometime. For now he assumed she was adopted. "If you're hearing this pre-recorded message, it's because I've passed on, and my spirit sparkles guided you to its secret hiding place." She put up her arm and sparkles appeared. Then she picked up a small cat and a pudgy baby wearing a rabbit hat. Marshall assumed they were Fionna and Cake. "Right now, I'm holding both of you in my hands. You're both still little squishy babies." Their mother squished both of them with her hands, causing Fionna to cry.

"You were so _cute_, Fionna!" Fionna blushed at Marshall's comment. She slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Shushers! You'll miss parts." Baby Fionna and Cake were set down, and they both crawled off-screen.

"I made you girls something. It's a dungeon. A _proper_ dungeon. Full of evil monsters, traps, and magic. The whole kazoo! Now this next part of the message is just for you, Cake." Fionna reached over and pressed the stop button.

"See? Anything my mom made is gonna be so sweet!" Fionna could barely contain her excitement. Marshall chuckled at her.

"So, why bring _me_ along?" Marshall asked. He had been wondering since he woke up. Fionna had never invited him to do a dungeon before. Not that he didn't want to, it was just a change in pace.

"I don't know, either." Cake pouted. Fionna didn't hear her, but Marshall did. He pretended that he didn't, for Fionna's sake.

"Well, I figured you probably felt left out all the time. I get to see Gumball alot, but I'm not usually awake when you are." Marshall sensed weirdness. What had happened at the Gumball Ball that would've made them both act weird like this? There was a faint moaning in the distance. Not pained, just… moaning. "Hey Marshall, is that a dumb-lookin' rock over there?" Marshall squinted into the distance. He would've been able to see it, if it weren't for the sunlight. They all moved a little bit closer. Marshall focused as much as he could.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because that's where we need to go!" Fionna took off toward it. Marshall and Cake struggled to keep up. Time for another whirlwind adventure.


	6. Chapter 6: A Proper Dungeon

Cake and Marshall were ten paces behind, and Fionna was already trying to budge the rock. Marshall hurried over. "Need some help?" Fionna rammed her shoulder into the rock, whose eyes were rolling around aimlessly in their sockets.

"No. I-" She backed up. "GOT THIS!" She yelled as she rammed her shoulder into the rock again. She recoiled and grabbed her shoulder.

"Okay, calm down before you hurt yourself." He put his feet down, then gently guided her into a sitting position on the ground. The rock continued gurgling and making random noises. "It's not a bad thing to ask for help." He turned to face the rock, ready to move it, but Cake had already uncovered the hole underneath the boulder. She gave both of them an unimpressed look. Fionna sprang up and jumped in as fast as she could, followed by Cake. Marshall couldn't understand how Fionna could even move after jarring her shoulder like that, and followed. He knew that Fionna felt she didn't need a babysitter, but he felt that she was too reckless. He didn't want to see her get hurt. He landed gracefully on his feet, and was alarmed by Cake's excited yelling.

"Whoa! Burgers and hot dogs! Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!" There were two piles of food lying in the stone slab room, and Cake ran toward the hotdog pile.

"Wait, Cake!" Cake turned around to face Fionna, a sad look in her eyes.

"But… But those are hot dogs…"

"Didn't you say you were hungry for burgers this morning?" Fionna had an inquisitive tone.

"Yeah, so?" Cake was oblivious to the situation. Marshall had already sensed something odd here.

"And didn't I say I was hungry for hot dogs?" Fionna slowly walked toward Cake.

"Mmm hmm, I remember." Marshall brandished his axe, ready to strike.

"I don't think those burgers and hot dogs are burgers and hot dogs at all…" She neared one of the hot dogs, and it started to move in a chain with the others. She yelled dramatically and kicked it. The hamburgers started to move as well. Marshall jumped into battle, slicing juicy meat with his axe. He was hacking away furiously, every attack countered, having more fun than he'd had in a while. He didn't notice Fionna's escape until the doorway opposite the entrance collapsed.

"Fionna!" He yelled and flew over to a crack in the destroyed stone slab. A hamburger arm was pinned by the rubble, and Cake was trying to eat it. Fionna smacked her before she could eat anything. "Are you alright?" Marshall peered through the crack as she dusted herself off.

"Yeah. Can you get through?" Marshall tried to stuff himself into the crack.

"No." He was stuck. His shoulders were too broad.

"I'll be alright. You should probably just go back." She started walking down a passageway , out of his line of sight.

"But-" Marshall was cut off when a hot dog tentacle wrapped around his ankle and yanked him loose. He yelled as he was flung this way and that, until the tentacle flung him full force toward one of the walls. Marshall stopped in midair about a foot away from the wall, exhaling in relief. He figured that he might as well defeat this thing, in case they had to come back this way. It looked like Fionna forgot her sword, and he didn't want to see her hurt. He snapped back to reality just as the hot dog monster lunged toward him. He dodged, narrowly missing a clobbering appendage of meat. He took a swing at it, but his heavy axe was too slow and the tentacle had already wound up for another attack. He held his axe's shaft with two spread hands in front of him, preparing to block the attack. The hot dog jabbed firmly right into his gut. Blocking this beast would take more than a simple weapon defense. Marshall threw off his jacket and hat.

He grew into a bat-beast that's size rivaled the food monster's. The flopping of meat and bun echoed in his giant ears, and Marshall quickly echo located the beast and took it down within a minute. He shrunk back down to regular size. _Might as well find something else to do. _Marshall didn't want to wait around all day, so he donned his hat and jacket and floated back home. Now that he finally had a moment to himself, he pondered the day while strumming his guitar. Cake was more high-strung around him than usual. He could feel the relief emanating from her when he got stuck in the remnants of that wall. He understood that it was probably a very personal errand for Cake. If he had watched the part of the cartridge that was meant just for her, he'd probably understand her position more. But Fionna was oblivious to that aspect, so why was _she_ being all weird? She'd blushed at least three times in one hour. She never blushes. No matter which way he looked at it, he just couldn't seem to shake the feeling that something odd happened at that party. But it didn't feel right to ask.

He sat around, ate, and sat around some more. He was expecting the day to be really awesome, but it just ended in disappointment. He had a feeling that this was going to be quite the busy week.

* * *

"Gunther?" Gunther walked into my little cave. "So, this is where it all happens. I've started writing my own story." He held up his book. The cave was fairly small, but he managed to squeeze in with me. "Are you writing? Can I see?" He was being nosy, as usual. I closed my book.

"This cave is a secret. How did you find it?"

"I have my ways…" He smiled and pulled out some kind of magic compass. "Remember the Wizbiz account? We've all been busy buying stuff." He looked around at my random jot note scrawls chiseled into the walls. "Marceline knows Bubblegum?"

"Yeah. I thought everyone knew that."

"Well, I suppose since they're so old. They must've met sometime." There was an awkward silence. I was always really awkward around the other penguins. "Did you want to take a look at mine?" He didn't wait for an answer. He flipped it to the first page and plopped it in my lap. "Go on. I need some constructive criticism." I began reading. It had no title, and his scrawl was unfamiliar to me.

"_Who was that?" Fionna asked, bewildered. The red slap mark was burned onto her face._

"_That was Flame prince. I think he's evil though…" Cake replied She was a bit embarrassedabout what she had done. She unleashed him onto the world. Her intentions were good but that didn't matter because now that evil prince would destroy Fiona slapped cake and it made a real loud sound. Like thunder._

"_You shut your dirty mouth!"Cake was surprised. "I…think I have a crush." Cake was surprised again. Her plan had worked, sorta. But know that she knew he was evil, she didn't want ther plan to work. Cake didn't want fiona to be in love with a bad guy like someone from the Flme Kingdom._

"Umm… Good?" I choked on a lie. I couldn't read another sentence. "But maybe work on the capitalization. Every name should be capitalized. And you could use some more punctuation. It would help convey the feeling of the sentence." Gunther nodded.

"Thank you. I was wondering… Is Flame Prince in your story at all?"

"Nah. I'll save that for another story."

"Okay. Thanks again. Maybe if we finish at the same time, we could exchange our stories for a first read?" He stood up, collecting his book.

"Yeah, sure." He awkwardly slipped and stumbled out of my ice cave.

"Bye."

"See you later." I was really glad he had gone. Now I could continue writing in peace. I had good bits and pieces lined up, but I didn't know which order I wanted them in, or how they would connect. Hopefully if I just continued writing, they would fall into place. I was just worried that I wasn't portraying the characters accurately. I had a difficult time with that. Generally I made up my own characters, that way they wouldn't have to meet a certain identity standard. But writing fanfiction was new to me. It would take some getting used to.

* * *

**[Feel free to review... Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, what could be improved, point out mechanical errors (I hate it when one slips by), note things that are out of character. Even give me ideas on where to go next, whether it be Gunther's story or Marshall's Madness. Really, as long as you're not a dick about it, I will take into consideration any ideas. Except for the fact that I'm leaving FP out of this story. If you're truly interested in Flamonna? Flaming Rabbit? Flaming... Adventurer? I'm sticking with FPxFionna, if you really want some of that, I guess I could come up with something. Not sure how good it might be...]**


	7. Chapter 7: A lingering feeling

Since Marshall still had a whole day to burn, he thought. A nice quiet thinking period was good for the soul. Marshall was unsure if he had a soul. If he didn't, maybe a thinking period was bad for him. Either way, there was no avoiding it. He had already started thinking. He thought about Ash by the fridge when he was grabbing a bowl of strawberries. He thought about Gumball while floating up his ladder. He plopped down on his bed with his guitar, apple held between his jaws, and thought about his guitar. He eyed it closely. No new scratches, thankfully. Maybe next time he needed a weapon, he'd skip the guitar and find something else to use. He was the second-most powerful being he knew. The first was his mother. That reminded him that he should really get around to the monthly visit he paid her. He'd get around to it, eventually. Still on the topic of motherly figures, Marshall thought about Sasha. Which reminded him of their song.

Marshall placed his fingers on his bass and tried to stretch them wide so that he could hit that specific note. The muscles between his fingers were taught, even after all these years of playing. It was some vampire thing, maybe his muscles wouldn't stretch properly without human blood. There was only one place he could get that… Which brought him to the topic of Fionna. She'd been so weird today… Marshall wondered why he cared. He wondered why he was such a softie. Everyone in the Vampire community frowned upon him for drinking shades of red instead of victims. You'd think surviving the apocalypse would harden a person, where in Marshall's case it had made him have a soft spot for the living. Most of all, Fionna. Maybe _she_ could be the muse for his new song. He grabbed a nearby notepad and worked through some chords and lyrics. He started off with a C. "Good little girl," So far, that was all he had written. He had ideas, but couldn't seem to fit them into this song. It was odd that it sounded really sappy. Almost like a love song. But it wasn't. Marshall didn't write that kind of crap. Couldn't. He decided to add in a description of their playful rivalry. That would change the song, wouldn't it? He couldn't seem to get the words in the song, only the melody. So he refined that. A strange feeling overcame him while playing the song. He was almost relieved when he heard a knock on his door. He went to the ground floor to answer it. His relief was exchanged for that odd feeling again when it was Fionna at the door.

"Hey. How'd it go?" Marshall asked. Fionna beamed with excitement. She reached over her shoulder for a red hilt that Marshall hadn't noticed until she'd grasped it. Fionna swung the large sword at Marshall, knowing that he would avoid the attack. He planted his feet and caught it between two flattened palms, and began to smile in triumph. But the smile turned into a gape of surprise when a spike of cold traveled through his arms, causing him to release it. It hit him between the collarbones. The tip of the blade sunk through layers muscle. sending another wave of cold to Marshall's neck area. He bled more than a normal blade would cause him to bleed. Fionna instantly recoiled the sword, causing the cut to grow a few centimetres longer. Marshall fell onto one knee. He put a hand on the cut, inhaling through gritted teeth.

"Dude! Are you okay?" She dropped the sword and panicked about, not knowing what to do.

"Yeah, Yeah. Just gimmie a sec." He said, a hint of pain still audible in his voice. He breathed slowly for a few seconds, and the wound began healing. It was a slower healing process than usual. He took his hand off, and the wound hadn't shrunk more than a centimetre.

"I'm really sorry. What the junk happened?" Marshall stood back upright now that the pain was replaced with a slight coldness. He ran a hand through his hair, resting it on his neck.

"Well, I caught it. Then it… shocked me, or something. What the heck is that sword made of?"

"Demon's blood. Why?" Marshall made a connection. He felt cold whenever a demon was near, so a demon blood sword must have the same effect.

"I think you just found my weakness. Be careful with that thing!" Fionna blushed again, then sheathed the sword in-between her backpack and her body.

"Okay. Sorry again." Blushing… was it because she was embarrassed? Marshall had seen her blush more today than he had in the past three months. Even if it weren't for that fact, he could sense this weird air about her and Cake. He was itching to know what happened at that party. But it felt weird to just come out and ask right after being sliced.

"Wait, I didn't get a good look at it when it was flying toward my face." Fionna handed him the sword. He grabbed the hilt gingerly with his right hand. It seemed to be okay… He looked at the intricately carved demon tooth on the end, and the recurring theme of crosses. He reached with his left hand to stroke the blade. He recoiled it when the red thing shocked him again. "Yeah, shut up." He muttered before Fionna had a chance to jeer at him. He handed it back to her, and she sheathed it again.

"Sorry we left you behind. Cake said we had to hurry up." At the sound of her name, the spotted cat poked her miniature head out from under Fionna's hat she was trying to mask her discontent about being near Marshall.

"Yeah, I'm not really mad about that. But I was wondering; why the sudden need for a new sword?" Fionna's mind went blank. She couldn't tell him the truth. She was embarrassed about her being duped by the Ice Queen like that. It was bad for her image.

"Uhhh… Old one was dull."

"Yeah. The yellow one? Gold is too soft of a metal to be making weapons out of." He gestured inside, then closed the door behind her and followed her to the couch. She sat down, and he decided to sit down as well. He made a disgruntled face. "You're right, this couch is really uncomfortable." She giggled in response.

"What have I been telling you?" Marshall couldn't shake the weirdness. Now she was being giggly. "So then, what's your axe made of? It's the same colour as my sword."

"It's a metal commonly found in the Nightosphere. It's called hematite, I think. Your sword probably has some hematite in it too; otherwise it would be a puddle." The feeling wasn't going away. It was getting stronger. There was a silence. Marshall couldn't bear it. He cleared his throat. More silence. The topic of the party was welling up inside him, right on the tip of his tongue. He had to ask. But he didn't want to pry too much. "So, how was the party?" Some of the pressure let up. But not much.

"Pretty good." Fionna was still really embarrassed. She was mentally slapping her forehead for being tricked like that. The only reason the true Gumball asked her out was because she saved him. It hurt her, not physically. She wasn't used to this kind of pain.

"Oh? I didn't really get to see you." Marshall was 99% sure something happened at the party. Something she didn't want to talk about. There was no doubting it now.

"Yeah. I… I went home. I wasn't feeling good, y'know?" She was sweating. Marshall could see right through her. She was transparent. Cake was sensing Fionna's panic, and being her wingman, started to help her out. She grew down toward the floor until she was in her normal shape.

"Hey Fionna, wasn't there that thing we had to do… Didn't Turtle Prince ask us to help out at the library?" Cake eyed her with an expression that clearly said 'play along'.

"Uh…Yeah! Right. Those paper origami people are jankin' everything up. We'll just… be going now." Fionna and Cake backed away from him, with cheesy, see-through smiles. They never took their eyes off of him, and fumbled behind their backs with the doorknob.

"Here. I can see you're both so eager to get out of here." The past couple minutes had just been an exchange of lies. They both awkwardly tried to get out of the way of the door so that the vampire could swing it open, and they exited just as awkwardly. They scampered off into the almost completely set sun, not even saying goodbye. But Marshall did. He wasn't sure if it was just because of the current weirdness, but something lingered. It was a longing. Marshall brushed it aside, pairing it with his curiosity about the party.


	8. Chapter 8: Burn Scars

This story was getting pretty deep, uncovering a lot of feelings. If I kept letting it progress, letting all my ideas fall into place, this story would take forever. And it would be an awesome story, but I worried that maybe it would become too long. The people who were already interested in it might lose their patience with me. But I wasn't writing it for them. I was writing for me. It shouldn't matter what they think, as long as I'm happy with it. Thankfully, I don't think that Gunther told anyone else where I was hidden away. I was having a nice, peaceful writing session.

I wondered where everyone else was, when I remembered my orb. I pulled it out to see that the entire population of Gunthers were hunkering down to write their own fanfiction. I had started a trend. Whenever the King came around, they would hide their stories, otherwise he would shoot them down. As if he knew anything about writing stories.

* * *

Again, he was worn out at the end of a day. Living in Aaa was really screwing up his internal clock. As Marshall got ready for bed, he wondered how he was still sane. So much had happened in 1000 years, much of it ended horribly. A regular person's mind deteriorates after 90 years, generally. But then again, there was no reference available to show him what a regular person even _was_ to begin with. Marshall wondered what would happen to Fionna when she reached old age. She would be a different person, with more experience and less mobility. But 60 years wouldn't change much for Marshall. He would still be the same. And so would Gumball. It was an odd concept to think about. It would really do a lot to Fionna's sanity, having the people close to her remain the same. Whereas Cake, who was the closest to her, was already in her prime. Cake would most likely die before Fionna reached her 30's. Fionna would feel so alone. There would be no replacing a friend like that. Even though Marshall and Cake didn't see eye to eye, he respected her. He respected the fact that Cake would always put her sister's safety first. He checked his fangs in the mirror, making funny faces while his toothbrush hovered outside of his mouth. Maybe he shouldn't think about such morbid things. It could damage Marshall's own sanity. Then again, most of the thoughts he had would inevitably lead to morbid thoughts. It was his nature, after all.

He woke up the next day, and decided that he would finally get around to visiting his mother. He tried to visit his mother at least once a month. Relations between them were becoming stronger, and Marshall thought that it would be good for him to have family that remembered him. As he drew a frowning face on the wall, he remembered back when Fionna had accidentally summoned her to this realm. How she freaked out whenever someone lost their soul. He found it cute how she cared for the other mortals. He splashed bug milk on the wall with the face on it, effectively drenching the depiction. He began the chant, one that he knew since he could remember. "Meloso yobiscum et cuum spiritum!" This only opened a portal. If Marshall had drawn a happy face, his mother's wrath would be unleashed upon the world again. And he knew how Fionna wouldn't like that. Funny, how he kept accommodating for Fionna. Marshall was beginning to suspect that he was letting her in too close… Every time he let that happen, he got hurt. He regained focus on the current task, and walked through the fiery portal.

He ended up in a random location every time he went there, so he got to know the lay of the land rather well. He felt like he belonged here, but it didn't feel like home. Home was where he could easily access his friends. He floated fairly high above ground level, but the mountainous landscape negated the fact. He could barely see the top of his mother's castle. He scanned around the mountains, absent-mindedly looking for resident demons. It was actually kinda cool how they had carved their villages into the volcano-side and used the magma for power. His blood was always cold around here, despite the heat. It was refreshing to be around demons. But because his blood-sense was permanently tripped in the Nightosphere, he couldn't watch his back easily. He felt he didn't need to, because he was the second-most powerful being in the realm, but Ashley was constantly forgetting that fact. She caught Marshall by surprise, clamping her hand over his mouth. For a few seconds he feared that it was a rebellious peasant trying to throw the politics of the Nightosphere off-kilter, but calmed down when he recognized the scent. Ashley couldn't hurt him if she tried. "You're mine now!" She giggled triumphantly, with a heavy undertone of madness. Marshall unclamped her hand and tried extremely hard not to laugh.

"I really broke you, didn't I?" He could tell she was repressing another hissy fit.

"Yeah, mainly bones!" She was falling apart at the seams. Marshall relished in her pain.

"You should know better than to piss me off. Besides, you have healing spells."

"YOU should know it's taboo to hit girls!" Marshall covered her mouth with his hand, returning the favour.

"Girls are generally mortal." There was an angry silence. "Sorry, how rude of me. You wanted to complain to me about your entertainingly horrible life." Her anger disappeared.

"No, actually. I… I wanted to give you this." She held up a stuffed…thing, it was threadbare and many of the seams were coming loose. The limbs were uneven and the head was extremely misshapen, with incongruent ears sticking out of the top. Marshall's creative brain instantly thought that it symbolised how Ash had fallen apart ever since the whole stuffed monkey fiasco. Marshall accepted it from her outstretched arms. He wasn't sure what it was supposed to be, and it definitely wasn't Hamba. It had a different smell. It seemed to be made out of random shreds of cloth.

"Ash…" Marshall stared at it incredulously. She smiled in triumph.

"You like it?"

"What… What's it supposed to be?" She wasn't set off by his remark.

"A rag beast. I made it for you." Marshall thought it was really thoughtful. It didn't have the same emotional value as Hamba, but he appreciated it. "Are you over yourself yet?" Her arrogance broke through his temporary happiness.

"No. You haven't the slightest clue what it was like, growing up during the war. But you're trying." He put it inside of his shirt so that he wouldn't have to carry it, and so that his mother wouldn't make fun of it. He headed off toward the barely visible tip of his mother's castle.

"Wait! Where are you going?! Don't you love me?" Ash yelled after him.

"No. You've made me slightly less mad at you. Don't make it worse." He turned back toward the castle, and started to make his way again.

"Oh, come on! I'm the only one for you! You know that!" She yelled after him. Marshall used to think that he didn't have a partner. He was beginning to doubt it recently… "You're kidding! You've fallen for her. The chump!" Marshall did a double-take. Was she talking about who he thought she was talking about?

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You are! Oh my Glob!" She started laughing madly again. What did she know? She was just trying to mess with him, to get to him. He stared as she disappeared behind another mountain of red rock. He shook it off and composed himself as he headed toward the castle.


	9. Chapter 9: Choose

As he got closer to the more populated areas, Marshall began to see total chaos. There was horrific screaming, and demons of every shape and size. The mountains were replaced by giant pyramids that resembled the surrounding hellscape. The demons were more active here. The random pyres that shot up over the landscape were getting more frequent. There were cross-section demon buses that ran and flew around, their organs showing out of their right sides. They took the smaller demons around, which Marshall thought was cute in a weird way. There were depictions of Harley everywhere. In her disgusting Nightosphere form, of course. A business suit with a large slit-mouthed head on top. The river of people waiting to talk to Harley Abadeer was just as packed as it normally was. That one guy was still there, rowing on the tops of their heads. For some, the Nightosphere was fun. For the lower class, nothing but pain and suffering. Marshall didn't really feel bad about them. But he was weirded out about how much his mother enjoyed their suffering. It was her job, he supposed.

His mother's castle was basically a carved-out volcano. The only thing that really distinguished it from the mountains and pyramids surrounding it was the black colour and the clouds of sentient blood-mist that came in and out. He floated into one of the open gaps that were used as windows. "Mom?" His voice was muffled by the wind whistling through the stone. She was out, working as usual. Marshall was unsure what his mother even did. He looked around at the pictures on the wall. Many of them were of his mother posing with people that he didn't know. His mother with an old-fashioned president. There was a photo of her golfing, with Peppermint Maid lugging around her equipment. He never knew that they had met before... An incoming cloud dissolved, revealing the ugly demon head that belonged to his mother. As the blood-mist dissipated, he inhaled. It was much more satisfying than any fruit. Her less terrifying head replaced the other one. The shadows reflected dramatically off of her defined cheekbones.

"Marshall! It's been a while." She tried to go for a hug, but Marshall didn't realise, so she stopped. He tried to give her a hug once he realised what she was trying to do, and they both ended up jerking awkwardly around each other. They finally made contact, and there was a short hug. When they released the hug, there was an awkward silence. A fluffy black thing inched into the cave. It meowed emptily.

"What's that?" Marshall pointed to it. He didn't sense a heartbeat coming from it.

"That's Schwabelle. I zombified a cat. Maybe you want a pet?" Marshall shook his head. There was no way Cake would approve of a cat corpse walking around his house. The awkward silence returned. Marshall wasn't used to his mother. He had no idea what to say. Harley cleared her throat. "So… Did you do anything… evil… lately?" She was trying to break the ice. Marshall paused to think.

"I broke a wizard's heart."

"You didn't kill anybody?" His mother was obviously disappointed.

"No, mom. You know I don't do that."

"Why? Because your friends don't want you to? You're going to let yourself be pushed around by mortals?"She crossed her arms, her business suit making her look all the more serious.

"Mom, I don't because I don't feel like it. Is that so hard to understand? It's not who I am."

"Well, it's who you're going to be. One day, this'll be yours." She spread her arms wide, facing the panorama of chaos outside her window.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm into music."

"Well, tell that to the vampires. They're not happy with you." She was still facing outside, hands clasped behind her back. He had to hand it to her, she had her priorities straight. "They want someone fierce! Someone who rightly embodies everything that a vampire is." She turned to face Marshall again. "If you don't grow a backbone, they'll incite an uprising." Marshall stared at her with a bored expression.

"But you love chaos. Why is it a problem for you?"

"Because the vampires have a lot of power here. They can gain the trust of the people. Remember the War? They can do it again." She smiled evilly. "But this time, they won't be defeated by mere animals. They won't stop until the Nightosphere and the land of Aaa are indistinguishable. And nobody will be able to control them." Marshall did _not_ want to see that happen.

"Fine, then. What do they want from me?"

"A horrible act. Something that a mortal would go insane thinking about." Marshall also didn't want to take action for his kingdom. He never asked to lead these people. That was what his mother wanted, the reason he was born.

"Like what?"

"Take something beautiful and rare. Then, destroy it! Obliterate it until you are the most feared person between realms. These are the ways of the family business, son." She was scary happy whenever she thought about her son being the destroyer, the messiah of the Nightosphere.

"Yeah, fat chance." His mother tried not to be angry. She used her tactfulness to her advantage and thought of a way that he could appease the masses.

"Well, if _you're_ not going to be destroying anything, you need a Queen who will strike fear into their hearts!" Where was Marshall going to find a Queen? "What about that girl… Ashley, was it? She would be perfect. She's already respected by the target audience." Marshall choked on nothing. No way. "Okay, fine then! What about the brave one?" Marshall wasn't following.

"Who?"

"The human. The last human. How the masses would smile upon such a warping of innocence…" No. Marshall wasn't doing anything of the sort.

"There must be another way!"

"There is. You let every demon in the Nightosphere waltz into your world and feed upon it until it's a hollow, empty shell." The thought of that kind of panic appealed greatly to her, but the fact that she would have no control was a deal breaker for her. Her son would have to stop this uprising before it started. Marshall was beginning to lose it.

"Whatever, Mom! You're probably trying to trick me again! I'm outta here." He began to draw another face on the floor to go back home.

"Don't you want this cat?" She motioned to the cat that was leaning against her leg, totally motionless and expressionless. Marshall poured the bug milk he got from the refrigerator on the face.

"No,Mom! Now's not a good time!" He opened up the portal and fell through into his own world. That boy was not realizing the depth of the situation. He wasn't acting like the vampire monarch he was, governed by emotion instead of logic. Harley sighed, then went back to work.


	10. Chapter 10: Psycho

Well, I made it to the main conflict. Or, one of them, anyway. I decided it was time to take a break. I stowed the book in a small shelf-like hole in the wall. I checked to make sure that the coast was clear before dashing waddling quickly toward the regular hang-out spots. As I neared, I noticed that the usual chatter of penguins was gone. The spot near the water was empty. That was everyone's favourite spot. Something fishy was going on… I went to the ice-shelters near the castle, and everyone was quiet. Most were lying on their stomachs, but some were sitting. And they were all writing in books. I slunk close to a tundra cliff. I didn't want to be swarmed for advice on writing, so I snuck away to the empty water to catch some fish. Once I had my fill, I went back to my covert little outpost and picked up where I left off.

* * *

Marshall was spit back out of the portal feet first. It was always discombobulating to go through the portal using the force of gravity, because the first thing to go in was the first thing to come out on the other side. Luckily, he could levitate, so he rearranged his center of gravity. The portal shrunk into a crack in the wall with a face around it. He wouldn't have to draw another one until it was washed away by the bug milk. He was still put-out because he was unhappy with his current responsibilities. He tossed the rag-beast on his couch and headed to the fridge. Generally, Marshall ate whenever he was feeling down. He was grabbing a bottle of ketchup when he heard sounds of struggle outside. He rushed to the window and saw two people and an animal fighting. One of the people didn't have a regular pulse… As soon as Marshall's brain caught up with itself, he realized that Ashley was trying to get rid of the competition. The competition was Fionna. He was frozen, unable to move from the spot near the window above the counter, ketchup in hand.

"I don't understand what you want! You're bizzonkers!" Fionna yelled at the angry vampire. She held her sword with two hands, confidently. To a lesser creature, she would've been very intimidating. Cake helped the image by stretching around behind Fionna, growing her fists into hammers.

"He. Him. You. You! Chump. Chump, Chump, CHUMP." Ashley couldn't even manage proper English. She charged at Fionna on foot, running like a madwoman. One hand held a dagger, the other a charged close-range spell.

"Fionna!" Marshall yelled as he clambered out of the window. As Ash ran by, Fionna got out of the way and stuck her blade out to the point where Ashley was headed. She had timed it properly so that Ash barely missed Fionna and instead caught her slash. Blood flowed from the wizard's abdomen, and the sound of the slash reverberated off the walls. This momentarily slowed Ashley, but soon she got back up. She giggled nervously from the cold pain that was screaming from her torso.

"We got this, bro." Fionna took another defensive stance, never taking her eyes off of the target. Marshall decided to just stay out of the way. Maybe Fionna could actually beat her. After all, she _did_ have the demon blood sword. Ash rushed her again, but learned as she fought. She used her speed to get past Fionna's slash and had sliced into her neck within half a second. Fionna yelped in pain, but I stayed near my house against my better judgement. I was practically chewing my nails. Cake's hammer hit Ash in the forehead, sending her flying. Fionna and Cake could handle this. Ash caught herself and began to levitate around. She licked her lips in delight, still laughing eerily. Fionna tied a shred of cloth from her skirt around the wound in her neck.

Fionna yelled loudly and jumped toward the floating vampire, who practically flicked her back to the ground as if she were a bug. A smile of pure madness masked the once-familiar face of Ashley. Fionna laid there on the ground as the wizard dive-bombed, flame-engulfed dagger at the ready. Dread crossed Fionna's face when she realized that there was no way she could get back up in time, and her sword was too far away to reach. Marshall's face also deepened into dread as he attempted to stop the fight's progress. _I'm too late_. The thought repeated over and over in his head as he barreled through the air toward the heartbroken Wizard. Ashley collided with something. Was it him? Was it Fionna? His mind wasn't functioning properly due to the adrenaline coursing through it. _She's dead. I'm too late_. His mind had to catch up with itself again for him to realize what had just happened. Ashley was struggling to reach Cake over the demon blood sword that she was holding out in front of her in a blocking position. The cold from the sword only fueled Ashley's madness as she lunged again and again at Cake with her dagger.

Cake struggled. The wizard was too strong for her, and she knew it. Her arms were shaking, but she was determined to protect her little sister. There was no way she was going to let a wizard harm Fionna. Not after what her family worked toward, what they sacrificed. Suddenly, her enemy was ripped away from her grappled position. Marshall had tackled her. He had nicked his arm on the sword as he was passing by it, catching Ashley's slices. Some of Ashley's blood also stayed behind. Marshall followed through with the tackle, gaining more and more speed until he slammed her into the wall. The combination of falling stalactites and her pained grunt echoed through the cave. Marshall stared fiercely into Ashley's eyes. No words were exchanged, but he knew what she was thinking. She thought that he would love her again if she committed a violent act. But that was the old Marshall. There would be no forgiveness for her. Ash had blown her chance. He would destroy her.


	11. Chapter 11: Blood

Fionna tried to get back up, but struggled and fell back down. "Cake! Take Fionna to Gumball!" Even though she didn't like taking orders from a Vampire King, she agreed with him.

"Ya don't have to tell me twice!" She threw Fionna onto her back as she grew in size and ran toward the Candy Kingdom, which was barely visible on the horizon. Ash writhed beneath the hand around her throat. She sliced at his stomach, struggling to breathe, struggling to win.

"Ash. I hate you." He whispered as he plunged a jagged chunk of rock into her heart. Her eyes went a cold grey colour, but her smile remained as she slumped loosely around his arms. He let her body fall to the ground below, expressionless. He almost couldn't believe that he did that. But maybe the vampires would be appeased. Goodbye, Ash. He wondered what he would do with the limp, lifeless body lying on the floor of the cave. Then he remembered another limp body. Possibly, a lifeless one. He panicked quickly around his house, searching for his jacket, ransacking everything until he found it. He put a hand and a few pairs of socks under his jacket where Ashley had cut him. It was bleeding slightly. His hat was upstairs, so he grabbed it and shot out of his bedroom window. She had come in that window earlier, and now he was racing out, racing against time. He flew over the land, and he didn't see Cake. That meant that she had already gotten there. Good. Time was of the essence. Marshall was unsure if Fionna's body would last much longer. He had to get there. Maybe he could be of help… He wasn't sure if he could control himself around her blood. The wind was whipping angrily against his face, but he managed to squint through it to see the entirety of candy kingdom. The nick in his arm was starting to lose its bone-chilling temperature. Ash's blood was still cold on his hands.

* * *

Marshall wasn't very action-oriented, but I felt that he could use more epic fight scenes. With whom, I had no idea. And how was he going to win over Fionna? How was he going to explain himself with blood-soaked clothing? Was anyone even going to believe him? I grind through some questions, I'm okay for a while, but then even more questions come up. I didn't want to take a break because everyone would be coming to me for writing advice, and it wouldn't really be a break. I sighed. Maybe if I just powered through this, everyone would get bored with their stories. I could take a break when they wouldn't be obsessing over my skills. I put on my determined face. This next part was going to need no interruptions or sidetracking.

* * *

He barreled through the kingdom, destroying the drawbridge that was just being pulled back up. The banana guards yelled, but Marshall paid no attention. He had one focus at the moment. He plowed through the castle, trying to sniff out his objective. It was hard for him to smell anything over the blood on his hands. He nearly took down Peppermint Maid. Her intense peppermint smell was slightly calming. "Marshall Lee?" she stared. It had been a while since she saw him last.

"Where are they?" He tried to hide the fear and anger in his voice. The maid took notice of his bloodied hands, but didn't know what to make of them.

"Follow me." She walked as fast as she could, being awkward and old. Marshall followed impatiently until he could smell bubble gum. So many smells. He was starting to lose it. He burst through the tall doors to the hospital hall, startling the patients who weren't already freaking out. Their hero was in trouble. Gumball was over by the bed where the adventurer was bleeding. He looked up at the loud sound of the doors being thrown open. He saw the vampire floating there, with a crazy look in his eye and two bloodied hands ready to strike.

"What did you do?!" Gumball yelled. He thought that Marshall had hurt Fionna. Marshall stuttered, but couldn't formulate a proper sentence. He floated up to her bedside, where she lay unconscious.

"Is she going to be alright?" His voice was hoarse and intimidating. Everyone in the hall was worried. Doctor Prince made his presence known.

"Not unless we do something immediately. We can't stop the bleeding." Marshall puzzled with himself. His blood had healing properties, but there was a chance that she might turn into a vampire. It would be what his mother wanted. But he couldn't let her die. Even though he never wanted to see Fionna as a twisted creature, he hesitantly bit his wrist to make a small amount of blood flow from it. He lowered it toward Fionna's mouth. Some of it dripped onto her once-blue shirt, the shoulder of which was now a dark red colour. Gumball wrenched Marshall's hand away.

"Don't touch her!" In a way, it was Marshall's fault that Fionna was hurt. But he wasn't the one who inflicted her pain directly. Now was not a time of long explanation.

"I swear to glob, if she turns into a vampire, I'm gonna kill you." Cake was full of malice at the sight of her weakened sister. It was too risky to use his blood. And there wasn't any other blood here that would help her.

"Well, I don't see any of YOU coming up with ideas!" His obvious rage echoed through the hall. Everyone was silent. "Come on! WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME!" He broke into a cold sweat. "Cake, was there nothing that you picked up on your adventures together?" She thought for a while.

"Cyclops tears. She got them last month, I'm not sure if they're still good." Cake was beginning to get worried.

"Where?" He demanded, almost fiercely.

"At the treehouse, in a wooden box in her closet." Marshall took off without saying another word. He was the fastest one in the room. After an hour's walk on foot compressed into 2.3 minutes, he was opening the window to Fionna's room. It was a mess, with random weapons jutting out from underneath the bed. His eyes were still watering from the wind's speed. He stumbled around to her closet, and grabbed a box. He opened it and threw things over his shoulder. He couldn't see it. He dug deeper and found a bottle lying on the bottle. It had a small leak, so he wiped a droplet onto his finger. Curious, Marshall rubbed it onto the cut in his arm. It healed instantly what would normally take at least a day. The cold was completely gone. He had found it, but there was no time to triumph or smile. He rushed back, and slowed as he entered the slightly dented doors that h had burst through earlier. "That was quick." Doctor Prince said, impressed. "But we have to hurry." Marshall was way ahead of him. He handed the blood-smeared bottle to the doctor. "How does this work?" He eyed it, holding it up to the light.

"Gimmie a cloth." Someone handed a cloth to the vampire. He grabbed the bottle out of the doctor's hand, unscrewed the lid, and replaced it with the cloth in a millisecond. He tipped the bottle quickly onto the cloth to wet it, put the lid back on, and handed it off to the doctor as he put the cloth on Fionna's pale neck. She was barely breathing. The whole room held its breath in anticipation.

* * *

**[I just had the most epic idea. I need samples of fanfics from you guys. The one I need the most is a FlamexFionna one. The next chapter is mainly going to be about Gunther reading some of the other penguin's fics. If it's not FPxF, put blatant mistakes in them for Gunther to criticize. Hopefully I can collect enough... Just write up a couple one-shots. I need someone else's input because I'm trying to focus on the main story, but I feel like I need more Gunther chapters. SEND IN THE BACKUP! WE NEED TROOPS! ...Yeah.]**


	12. Chapter 12: The Fans

This part was definitely exciting, but I seriously needed to take a break. My flipper was cramping from writing and it was difficult to focus on the page. When I was getting up, my back cracked loudly. I hobbled out of the cave so that I could stretch everything. I was really sore from staying in the same position for… who knows how long. It was time to face the music. The other penguins would want to see me sometime. On the way, I stopped to grab a fish or two. There was one other penguin there, gathering a big pile of fish on a sled. "Gunther?" He said when he saw me, piling another armload onto the sled. "I wrote more of my fanfic. I took your advice!" He grabbed the rope on the sled and struggled to pull it up away from the water.

"Do you need some help?" I slid down on my stomach.

"Okay. Sure." He stopped struggling and let grab the rope.

"Here. One, Two, HEAVE!" We both pulled, digging our feet into the ice. I repeated the chant about four times until we got the fish up the slope. "Glob, this is heavy. Why do you need all this fish?"

"Gunther sent me on a fish run. Everyone is busy writing." We pulled it along, leisurely.

"It seems I've started something here."

"Yeah. My story's coming along. I'll have to show it to you when we get back." He was really excited about his. I was hoping that it would be better than all the other ones I would have to read.

"Good luck. I'll be torn apart by the crowd once they see me." I chuckled.

"Then why did you come out of hiding?"

"I just needed a break. My writing will be better when I come back to it." We neared the little ice barracks. At the scent of the fish, books closed and hungry penguins rushed out. They started a frenzy, everyone trampling each other for food. Did the king forget to feed them? "Stop." No one heard me. "STOP!" Everyone froze when they realized who it was. "Make a line." They did exactly that. Even crazy Gunther. I was surprised, as normally no one would pay any attention to me. I was almost like a queen. Of fan fiction. We had way too much time on our hands. They each grabbed a few fish and went back to their bunks in an orderly manner.

I liked this.

After eating his fish, Gunter shyly came up and handed me a story. He was still really young, and I couldn't help but smile. The story had no title.

* * *

Once upon a time in A Far away Place caLled OOH , ther was a prince an adventuress and a vampire king , tHey loved each other so much one day the prince became a wad of gum just to amuse his love . Sadly he couldn't turn BACK to his usual state . Then te adventuress killed herSeLf beacase she was. Then the Ming King Vampire King becamo emperor of China an killed the aliens whole lleve the zombies **–Creative Dragon**

* * *

"Do you like it?" He asked, fidgeting his flippers. He was too shy to look at me directly. I couldn't say no to him.

"Yeah, it was interesting. I just think it could be a little bit longer, is all." I handed it back to her and she smiled. She ran over to her small cave.

"Was it really?" Gunther whispered to me.

"It was the worst thing I've ever read." I replied. Guunter came to offer me his story. I was a bit wary of reading it, since he was generally insane. He shoved it out toward me, saying nothing except for an annoying "Wenk." I should just get it over with now.

* * *

"Marhslllee was really sad, he thought as he sat by the river, his ruby-red eyes already made even more crimson from crying. Fionna had just gone on a date with Prince Gumball and left him alone again. "Why do I always end up alone?" he thought. "If only I could have a girlfriend. What's wrong with me, that I can't have a girlfriend? I'm way more handsome than Gumball..." he sighed "Maybe I'm just destined to be alone. Forever"  
The opalescent glimmer of his tears rushed towards the river he was sitting by like an avalanche of rain. He heard a laugh, and it was a beautiful laugh, like a little bird waking up in the morning or bells swaying in the wind. When he looked up, he gasped because he couldn't believe his eyes! Standing right in front of him, hovering a little bit above the river was a 5'2, 17 teen-year-old girl, who was very skinny but still had curves, with long flowing white hair that went to her ankles, with purple eyes that looked like they contained rainbows in the sunlight. She was wearing a jet black dress with lace around the collar and sleeves and lots of chains tat connected the corset-style portion of her dress to the flowing tutu-like rest of her dress.  
Marshall lee was so in awe. "What's your name? Who are you?"  
"My name is Moonlight Kevlyna, Princess of the moonbeams. I have been trapped in the river here because a warrior girl with a bunny hat, wearing a blue outfit with a green backpack hated me and cursed me to live here"  
Marshall Lee was so upset: It sounded like Fionna had trapped this georgeeus teenager and tried to kill her! Suddenly, he knew that Fionna was not someone he could trust, and he decided to trust Moonlight Karina because he could tell she was telling the truth through her earnest expression and beautiful face.  
"Okay, My name's Marshall, I know who almost killed you! It was Fionna. We should track her down and kill her." But Moonlight Kevlinae was not weak, and so she put her hands together in an ancient yoga pose, and said "Azarath Metrion Zinthos" which she learned form her cousin, Raven. And suddenly they both knew Fionna had died, and they could get married. Gumball was so confused when Fionna suddenly disappeared, but nobody cared about him now, and he went to give his congratulations to Marceline."** -NeighborsofLove**

* * *

Nope. No Mary Sue here. "Wenk!" I didn't really understand what Guunter wanted, but I handed the story back to him.

"A little too much description at once. Spread it out more."

"Wenk!" He nodded and ran off.

"Yeah. Well, I should get back." I started to head back in the direction of my hideout.

"Weren't you going to read mine?" Gunther called after me. I turned to face him.

"I just got another wave of inspiration." He looked a little disappointed. "Don't worry. I'll read it eventually." I headed back to my sanctuary and put a few fish that I'd grabbed in an ice shelf. It kept them cool, and the smell of fish was calming to me. I picked up my book and pencil again. Who knew that I could've started such a trend? I liked my newfound power.

**[If any random one-shots are submitted to me, I will add them in.I'll need to put blatant errors in them so that Gunther can criticize them. This chapter is totally subject to change. And I could use more Gumball-related oneshots, because so far I've gotten a few Flame ones and I don't need anymore. ]**


	13. Chapter 13: The Clean-Up

Nothing was happening. She wasn't regaining colour. Her pulse was getting fainter. "Fionna." Marshall said quietly, his hands coated in the blood of two people that he once knew. He grabbed the bottle of tears and put a little more on the wound. It absorbed into the blood on the cloth. "Fionna! Come on!" Marshall was barely keeping it together, between his dying friend and the temptation of her blood. He was sweating and shaking, and everyone in the room knew that he was about to explode. They also knew that they could do nothing to help. But that didn't mean they wouldn't try. Cake approached Marshall carefully, handing him another cloth. He changed it out for the one he was currently using. He drenched the dying adventuress in tears, cyclops and vampire alike. It wasn't taking. "FIONNA!" He screamed and banged his fists down on the gurney where she was resting. Cake was tearing up. Doctor Prince came forward, he was sure that it was over. He attempted to lead Marshall away from the girl, but Marshall pushed away violently whenever anyone touched him. His eyes were a terrifying red.

Sobbing quietly, he lowered his head onto her chest in an embrace. It was all his fault. His fault for…loving her. Only now could he admit it to himself. Everyone who knew what was good for them got up and left him alone. The blood from both of them smeared into their clothing, into Marshall's hair. He wanted to hear her last heartbeats as they became quieter. They wound down, and Marshall's pain increased as he heard the last. He didn't move, feeling empty. He heard a thump. He thought that it had been something else going on around him. He didn't bother looking around. He heard another thump. A succession of two, this time. Silence for what seemed like an eternity. Another two thumps. His eyes widened, and he saw the arm resting in front of his face. He saw the veins pulsate in synchronization with her heartbeat. He shot up, mouth agape as he saw her regain a small amount of colour. Another two thumps. He removed the reddened cloth from her neck. The cut was scarring over. Marshall was lost for words. Her heartbeat was getting louder, and she was getting warmer. She gasped awake, and Marshall discreetly wiped his tears. He didn't want her to see him like this.

"COME DOWN HERE! I'LL BEAT THE MATH OUT OF YOU!" She screamed before realizing where she was. She blinked a few times and looked around, unsure of what was going on. "Marshall? Where-" He cut her off with a giant hug. When she winced, he apologized and loosened his grip. "Good to see you, too." Marshall said nothing, he just hugged her, smelling how delicious she was…

"Fionna?" Cake ran into the room, and stopped when she saw him hugging her. He was dangerous around blood. She ran up to where Fionna was sitting and stretched her arms to wedge herself between the hug and replace Marshall's embrace. "I can't believe you're okay!" Cake glared at Marshall. He got the message, and left the room, slipping easily through the crowd that was collecting at the door.

Marshall made his way to the common room where he had spent so much time with Gumball, centuries ago. He remembered what it looked like before it was decorated on the inside. He slumped down on one of the bright pink couches. He was happy to have Fionna alive, at least. What would he do if she died because of him? Marshall was smeared in blood, but the giant gash in his stomach had finally stopped bleeding. He didn't notice the pain while he was rushing around to save Fionna, and he worked his body too hard. The gash was just beginning to heal. If it healed at this rate, it would leave a scar. Marshall adjusted his position on the couch, and noticed that everything he touched became red. The cloth was still in his hands. He could use it to wipe himself off, but it was too dirty. And delicious. As he eyed it, he argued with himself. Should he drink it? If anyone found out, they wouldn't be happy. And he wasn't sure what effect it would have on him. Maybe he would lose control and actually hurt her. But he needed tending to, and the bottle of tears was back downstairs. Where he was unwanted. It seemed he was only wanted at the places he sincerely didn't want to be. Maybe if he just gave in and became the person his mother wanted him to be, his life would be easier.

No one was going to tend to Marshall. No one cared. He started to put the cloth up to his mouth.

Gumball walked down the hallway toward the common room. He knew Marshall would head there. He was furious. Marshall was really not cut out for his position, he was reckless. How could he do something like that to Fionna? Why would he save her afterwards? Maybe he had just lost control… Whatever the case, it was unacceptable. The Prince put on his serious face as he walked down the hallway. He saw Marshall holding a bloodied cloth up to his mouth, about to chow down. Marshall's eyes were red. "JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" The vampire's eyes returned to the original black. He quickly tucked the cloth inside his shirt.

"Why do you care?" He mumbled in response.

"Well, for one you're walking a slippery slope with that blood. Hand it over." Marshall handed the cloth over guiltily. It was selfish of him to even take it with him in the first place. "That's a 'grade A' bad idea. And I don't appreciate you eating my subjects." Gumball was defensive of everyone's favourite hero. And for good reason. Fionna was the backbone of the candy kingdom, and one of the only viable candidates for a Queen. Because nobody wanted to marry Ice Queen.

"Fionna is nobody's subject." Gumball ignored this comment.

"And for two you've just ruined my couch!" Marshall smiled, as he found it funny when Gumball tried to be angry. He couldn't really pull it off.

"I think it's an improvement. Pink is just Red's wimpy cousin." Gumball's anger faltered at the joke. He put his fists on his waist.

"And what is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"You're a wimp, Pinky." Marshall smiled, while Gumball kept his composure.

"Well, I'll be sure to inform my cousin." They both started laughing, until Marshall gasped in pain and grabbed the large gashes in his stomach. Fionna definitely put up a fight, but Marshall was too strong for her. It was unfair really, and with Marshall's charm the Prince couldn't even stay angry. Gumball felt terrible that he hadn't noticed the wound before Marshall took off, trying to right his wrongs. He reached over to help, but Marshall pushed away his outstretched arm.

"I don't want your help." This made Gumball feel worse.

"Just like we didn't want yours. But you helped anyways." Gumball unbuttoned Marshall's shirt.

"Is this just an excuse to take my shirt off?" Gumball held it up to fold it. The normal red of the plaid shirt was darkened on the front, especially around the large tears in the fabric. Maybe there was another side to this story.

"A little." Marshall felt a little uncomfortable, but smiled with the Prince anyway. Gumball folded the shirt over the arm of the chair. "Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back." Gumball went to his personal bathroom and looked through the cupboards. There were miscellaneous chemicals in there that he really should be put back in his lab. He hesitantly grabbed a few towels and facecloths, a bucket, and a bottle of Plantoid extract. With a little bit of Zanoit tonic for the pain. He entered the common room again and began to tend to Marshall.

"Is Fionna going to be alright?" Marshall was still worried, even though he knew she was in good hands. Gumball put a facecloth full of Plantoid extract onto one of the gashes. Marshall inhaled sharply.

"Sorry!" Gumball poured a droplet of Zanoit tonic on the area, and saw Marshall relax again. "Yeah. She'll just need some rest." Gumball wrung the blood out of the cloth into the bucket. "About that… That wasn't you… Was it?" A shadow of guilt fell over Marshall's face.

"No. It was Psycho-girlfriend." But it could've been him. He was too dangerous around Fionna. Gumball's face deepened with dread.

"Where is she? Don't tell me she's running around terrorizing everybody! I'll send out my guard and-" Marshall held up his bloody right hand.

"Dead." Marshall said, voice unwavering. Curious, he licked the tip of his finger. "Hmm. Not bad." Gumball's face morphed into disgust. Marshall enjoyed making him squirm.


	14. Chapter 14: Pink

"You… really killed her?" Marshall nodded in response. Gumball hadn't really seen Marshall's dark side before. "Why would she do that?" Marshall wasn't sure if he was ready to tell.

"I guess she just snapped." Gumball moved on to the next gash.

"Well, that's one less supernatural being to worry about, then." Another joke, but one that only incited a small amount of laughter from either of them. Marshall didn't find killing funny anymore. In fact, he felt kind of bad about it. He wondered what the other vampires would think of him. Then he wondered about another thing that had been bugging him for a while.

"So, I barely saw Fionna at the party. Where was she?" Gumball squeezed more blood out of the cloth.

"Well, she rescued me from Ice Queen." Marshall figured that the Queen had a hand in this. "Then I asked her out." Gumball sensed that Marshall wasn't happy about that fact. "I came downstairs and you weren't there. Cinnamon Bun started talking to me and I had no idea what it was about."

"Yeah, neither do I. Sometimes I think she's half-baked."

"Don't be rude! It's a serious condition." Gumball looked displeased.

"Sorry. I didn't know." Gumball moved to the next gash, and handed Marshall a towel to wipe the blood from his hands and face.

"So, why were you curious about the party?" Marshall inhaled slightly at the dull pain of the wound cleaning. Gumball added another drop of tonic.

"Uh…Well…" Marshall didn't know for sure, but he thought maybe it was jealousy.

"She refused me, you know."

"Why would that matter? That doesn't matter to me. It's not my business."

"Don't kid me." Gumball saw right through the act. He always did. "I know you've got a thing for her." Marshall was at a loss for words. "You know, however this works out, at least one of us is going to be unhappy. She might not choose either of us."

"Pinky… I-"

"No, you're not sorry. You're going to steal her from me."

"I'm not going to steal anything!" Marshall interjected. He hated when Gumball thought he knew everything. Which he usually did, but it made Marshall feel inferior.

"You already have. You stole my heart, and never gave it back." Two whole centuries ago.

"Seriously? That wasn't my fault. My mom took me to the Nightosphere." And Marshall was always the one being called childish. Sheesh. Gumball stood up and walked away a few steps, back turned to Marshall.

"And you didn't do a single thing about it." Gumball could be a real pain in the ass, especially when he was all pouty.

"I never told you why. There's two sides to every story."

"Well, tell me then!" As he swerved to face the vampire, Gumball's supressed anger came to the surface.

"I _am_ royalty, you know. My subjects were angry about our relationship, and they decided to make their own government."

"You mean…" The prince's eyes widened in an extreme sense of realization.

"Yeah. That war was about you." Marshall stood up slowly, masking his pain. "I'm just glad that you survived." Gumball felt terrible. He was mad at Marshall for such a long time, but it was his own fault. He always made fun of Marshall, but now he realized that Marshall had made some extremely tough decisions, even though he hated it. The vampire headed toward Gumball's room to grab a clean shirt. Gumball followed.

"How could you let them revive The Lich? She killed my family! My subjects!" Marshall slipped on the Rock Shirt he had given Gumball. "I had to hire an Adventuress to put her back in captivity." The legendary Buffy, to be exact. Didn't Cake have a girl-crush on Buffy?

"Do you think my mother even let me go outside? She cared enough to keep me alive, but not enough to let me do what I wanted." He faced the pink Prince again. "Never has, Never will." Gumball remained silent. Marshall thought that the Prince only loved what people could do for him. That's why he was gunning for Fionna… She was the toughest living person in Aaa.

"You better not bleed all over that shirt." Gumball wasn't really sure how to handle this situation, emotionally.

"Why? Am I… frustrating you, Pinky?" Marshall made a mock serious face.

"Really, you can stop calling me pinky any time now." Gumball fumed at the vampire. Marshall choked on a laugh.

"Would you rather I call you… Bonamy?" Marshall tried as hard as he could to supress a laughing fit. The prince rubbed his temples by spreading his right hand across his face. He spoke through clenched teeth.

"No! Can't you just call me 'Prince' or 'Gumball' like everyone else?"

"No can do. You know, _pinky_, you haven't changed a bit." Marshall returned to his casual float, mocking his high-strung acquaintance.

"I could say the same for you." Marshall could physically _see_ the prince trying to keep composure. Gumball inhaled, keeping his cool. "Well, I'm going downstairs to see if Fionna is alright. _You_ need to stay here." Marshall crossed his arms, saying nothing as the Prince exited the room. He became invisible and followed quietly.

* * *

Not sure where to go from here. I wanted to get Marshall and Fionna together sometime soon so I could start working on their 'togetherness', but I wasn't sure how to get them there. I also still needed to get a confrontation with Cake. And I also still didn't know how long this story was going to be. Again, I was surprised that no one else had found my hideout. Only Gunther. I stopped writing and looked at the jot notes covering the walls. They were all hastily chiseled, as if I would forget my ideas if I didn't write them fast enough. I munched on another fish that I grabbed from one of the shelves. Another difficult part. Maybe if I just wrote, it would carve its own path. I decided to take a nap. Sleeping on it would help me figure it out.

* * *

**[Originally, Ashley was a vampire. But someone pointed out the fact that her official species was declared "wizard" so I had to go back and change it. If you find any mistakes regarding Ashley's species, please let me know so I can fix them.]**


	15. Chapter 15: Another Flame

I woke up in my cave. It was dark, so I lit a candle. I had no idea what time it was. After eating half of a fish, I made a mental note of the remaining fish half. _Need to restock my fish supplies_. I was going to go back to bed, when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Something near the entrance of my cave caught the candle light, making long shadows stretch onto the ice outside. I waddled over, and picked it up. It was a book. There wasn't a definite title yet, but there were faint pencil marks on the cover. I couldn't see them against the blue in the low light. I flipped to the first page. "By Gunther." That didn't really narrow anything down, but I assumed that it was the only Gunther that knew where my cave was. I remember he was itching for me to read it.

* * *

Flame Prince checked his watch angrily. _Calm down._ He told himself, as his flames started to grow in size. _She's probably just late. She'll show._

His thoughts were clearly doing nothing, however, as they continued to become more and more violent. _Why does this always happen to me?!_ He thought, as a fire-y tear ran down his cheek.

"Flame Prince?" asked a semi-boyish voice. He turned, ready to take his anger out on whoever was emerging from the clearing. Upon seeing the white hatted figure, however, his flames instantly calmed down.

"Fionna!" He cried, then ran towards her. "I didn't think you were coming!"

She laughed. "Of course I was coming! I was just running a little late when a certain magic cat decided to eat our food."

He grinned, then looked down, embarrassed. "Sorry about…you know."

She looked around the forest, seeing the smoldering tree stumps. "Hey, it's not as bad as last time. And look! Now we can use these as chairs."

Flame Prince blushed again. "I better not."

Fionna grinned. "Luckily…" She said, turning around, then pulling a large sheet of tin foil from behind her back. "I'm always prepared."

He laughed. "Oh Fionna," he said, then grabbed the fireproof picnic basket Fionna had brought. "What did you bring?"

Fionna gently set the foil on the stump, then sat on one next to it and looked through. "The usual." she replied. "Sandwiches," She said, tossing two on the middle stump. "Chocolate chip muffins…" suddenly, she paused and hit her forehead. "Cake!"

"What's wrong?" Flame Prince replied, looking over Fionna's shoulder.

"She put candles in instead of the flaming cheese I know you like!" She looked up. "I can go get it if you want."

He giggled. "Aw Fionna, you're the sweetest. But I think candles are more romantic, anyway. Here, pick one up."

She gently took one, as he placed his hand on the wick. Suddenly, a small flame danced before them.

"Shmowzow! Is it doing the macarana?" laughed Fionna.

They both laughed at the enchanted flame, until it slowly blew out in the wind.

Simultaniously, they looked at each other. Fionna started to lean towards Flame Prince.

He jumped up. "Fionna! You know what happened last time!"

Fionna blushed. "But, I mean, it was only a few burns, and I got over them pretty fast. And I think I'm more ready, now, and…"

"You are NOT getting hurt again because of me."

Fionna looked into his eyes, pleading. "Just once?"

He sighed. He really wanted to kiss her too. And maybe she _was_ ready. Maybe he could control his flames.

Slowly, they both leaned in again, until their lips met. Flame Prince felt the sparks coursing through his body, and hoped they weren't coming from him.

Suddenly, Fionna dropped on the ground. "DANG YOU, FI!" cried Flame Prince, as he quickly searched the basket for water. Finally, he found some, and poured it over her mouth.

"AH!" he screamed, as some of the water hit him. But his anger quickly died, as he saw her face.

Flame Prince's glow illuminated the four nasty burns Fionna had just acquired around her mouth.

"I'm fine! I swear…" She said, but her tearing eyes showed the truth.

"See! I told you!" He cried, fighting his own tears.

Fionna tried to smile. "But wasn't it worth it?"

"Not to see you in pain!" His flames instantly grew with his anger.

"Flame Prince!" She shouted. "Calm down! I'm fine!"

"Don't lie to me!" He screamed. A few streams of fire shot out his hands.

"I…I need to go." He said, distressed, before storming into the woods.

Fionna absentmindedly touched her burn, wincing at the pain. "Ow." She said, glancing at the fire-y trail he left behind him.

"When will he learn?" She mumbled, picking up the remains of the picnic. She sighed at the candle. "It's all worth it to me."-MirrorxMirror "Three Days for Three Words"

* * *

…Wow. That was the best one yet. There was only the one chapter so far, and there were only a few spelling mistakes. It was actually readable. At this point, the story could go anywhere. I was actually itching for the next chapter, while I dreaded all of the other fics. I took my pencil and added all of my tips and pointers onto a sheet of paper, then tucked it into the book. I placed it on the floor where I had found it. It was almost difficult to go back to sleep, thinking about what would happen next.


	16. Chapter 16: Tension

When I woke up, the book was gone again. Gunther was probably off writing the second chapter. His writing skills were quite impressive...Was he trying to impress me? If he was, he was doing a good job. He was always so nice to everyone, and he wasn't crazy about smashing bottles. My story had no direction at this point. I was just winging it. I picked up the book and the pencil out of the little ice shelf where I had placed it the night before. I tapped the pencil against the page until the ideas came out.

* * *

The room was abuzz with the chatter of relieved candy folk. Fionna was being smothered by excited fans, and with her current vital signs, Marshall could see that she needed some space. Doctor Prince saw it as well. "Give her some air, people! She needs rest." Many of the assorted candies didn't pay any attention until Cake got angry. She grew her arms around Fionna like some sort of fence, then pushed the crowd away by lengthening them.

"You heard the doctor! Move your butts!" The room cleared out hesitantly as Gumball approached the doctor. Fionna fell back asleep as nurse Pound-Cake rolled her to a quieter room. Marshall had to focus a bit more to hear over the chatter.

"-need a few days to recuperate while the tears replicate her blood. No adventuring before then. I think it would be best if she just stayed here." Doctor Prince tucked the clipboard he was holding away under his arm.

"So would I. She could stay in my room." Cake looked wary of Gumball's proposal.

"Just keep her out of danger's way." Marshall assumed that the Doctor was just speaking in general, but Cake probably thought he meant Marshall.

"I'll stick around to keep her inside." Cake offered. "Maybe I should go get BMO. We'll need some junk to do while we wait." She headed toward the big doors where Marshall was floating. He didn't worry, because he was invisible.

"I should get back upstairs. Marshall's probably breaking something." Gumball had such a snide tone. Did he really think so poorly of Marshall, even after all of his help? Cake was approaching the doors, Gumball not far behind. She got within five yards of the vampire before she stopped. Her tail fluffed up dramatically. She was on edge, scanning the room. Marshall realized that animals could sense his presence, and ducked out of the room, behind the wall he was leaning against. Cake came around the corner, as if she wasn't sure if she saw something or not. "What is it, Cake?" She stared at the spot where Marshall was hoping to stay hidden. He'd not counted the fact that she could sense danger. And she thought that he was dangerous.

"Something… I'm not sure. Something's here." Cake stretched up toward where Marshall was holding his breath, eyes closed. She waved her hand out in front of her, grazing Marshall's wound. "Whoa!" She flinched as Marshall grabbed his gashes. He lost his invisibility, causing Gumball to fall backward at the sudden appearance of the vampire. Doctor Prince ran over as well, and tripped on Gumball. A short interlude of chaos.

Fionna woke up to what sounded like everyone tripping over themselves. Considering how hyperactive she was, there was no way she could sleep anymore. There were no nurses around, so she struggled to stand up. She nearly blacked out, but regained balance and headed to where the noises were coming from. The hospital garment was thin and fluttery. She stumbled into the medical hall to see Doctor Prince lying stomach-down on Gumball's legs. The two princes were staring angrily up at Marshall, as was Cake. "Holy cow, you guys are loud." She complained groggily. She ran her hand over her face, back through her slightly messy hair. She had no idea what happened to her hat. Gumball was surprised by her presence, then became angry.

"Glob, Marshall! You never listen to me!" He got up and dusted himself off, showing as much spite as he possibly could.

"Why, PG? He's cool." Fionna said, before losing her balance. She was blacking out. Marshall zoomed in just in time to catch her unconscious body before she hit the ground. The strain caused his wound to hurt, and he made a small whining noise. Nobody thought anything of it.

"Just where do you think you're goin' with her?" Cake called after the vampire, as he floated the girl back in the direction she came from.

"To brutally kill her, obviously." Marshall said with a type of angry sarcasm. He was moving at a moderate pace, but everyone held their words until he was out of range. Marshall carried the girl with ease, floating through the halls. Her hair dragged on the ground. The layout of the castle was relatively similar, but many of the rooms had changed places. He headed to the guest room he always used to use, but now it was another laboratory. He headed up to the second floor, and gently laid her on her side in the nearest room with a bed. He avoided putting her in Gumball's room. Gumball didn't deserve her. He closed the curtains, locked the door, then sat down on a chair beside the bed. He watched her sleep, his fingertips pushing against each other, stretching his fingers out. Marshall felt kinda creepy, sitting there. He was around Gumball for a few minutes and the creepiness had rubbed off on him. Marshall smiled at his own mental joke.

As he got progressively more bored, he paced around the room. It was one of those days where you don't feel like doing anything because your crush almost died. He had no idea how much time had passed, but nobody had come to bother them. Marshall wondered if they were still talking down about him. Eventually, he sat down on the bed. He clasped his hands together and looked over at Fionna's face. Why was he sitting here behind a locked door with her? Her hair covered her like a blanket. It was surprising she fit it all in her hat. He reached over and gently brushed some hair over her ear. It revealed the fresh scar on the left side of her neck. He gingerly touched it, which caused the girl to stir in her sleep, giving a slight groan. He pulled back his hand. Marshall could barely stand to see her hurt. He wondered if he should tell her the way he felt. It would probably be overwhelming for her, since she was so sensitive about this sort of thing, and Gumball was already going after her. Marshall didn't feel like doing anything else that day, after what had happened. He only wanted to keep Fionna safe. He put two fingers on the holes in his neck, tracing them.

* * *

**[Reviews are appreciated! Sorry I've been so lax on the updating... School and such. Please review. Or favourite or something. It just lets me know that people care whether I write this or not. Hopefully you guys can motivate me enough to make me think of the next piece of the story... I had it so nicely planned up until two and a half chapters ago. ...JAMES BAXTER! JAAAAMES BAAAXTERRR!]**

**[P.S. Did you guys know that the little waving snail that gets possessed by the Lich appears in every episode? I noticed him in a couple of them, but if you go on the AT wiki you can find out where he was waving in each episode. The next time you watch Fionna and Cake (because I know you will,) look for the snail on the ceiling at the beginning of the episode as Fionna kicks the gummy bear things.] **


	17. Chapter 17: Intolerance

What would it have been like if she became a vampire? She would be stronger, but she wouldn't be able to save the day. Only the night. It was also possible that she could become an entirely different person, as vampires were easily swayed in the direction of evil. What if… Marshall almost couldn't think the words. He felt as if his life would have no meaning if Fionna were gone. He heard people coming down the hallway. People who thought little of him, no matter how much power he actually held. He kept quiet, hoping they would pass. He wasn't in the mood to deal with these people right now. He heard doors being opened down the hall. "Fionna?" Cake called. Doctor Prince and Gumball both called the same thing, over and over again. It was as if they were looking for a lost dog. The search party neared the room that the two were hiding in, and Fionna began to stir at the sound of her name. She would make a small moaning noise in response to their calls as she switched position on the bed. The swishing of the sheets was making a small amount of noise, so Marshall picked her up again. When the doorknob to their room jiggled, Cake yelled to the others. "This door is locked!" Someone else came up to the knob and tried it. This time the jiggle was followed by Gumball's voice.

"It's locked from the inside." There was a bang on the door, one that just barely made it convex. "Marshall! We know you're in there! You need to get away from her!" Did they think he was still a danger to her? The bleeding had stopped a long time ago. Marshall could control himself as long as her blood stayed contained. "Come out, dammit!" Marshall said nothing. What a bunch of untrusting pricks. "Fine. We're coming in!" There was louder and louder banging on the door, Fionna stirring more with each impact. Eventually, she woke up.

"Marshall?" Just then, the door shattered into gingerbread crumbs as Cake tumbled into the room. "What are you doing?" Fionna squirmed a little bit, confused. She kept waking up in random places in the castle, not remembering how she fell asleep in the first place.

Cake and Gumball's jaws dropped simultaneously. They saw Fionna struggling against the vampire, and jumped to conclusions. Especially Cake. This was the second time she walked in on a scene like this. If she left Fionna alone for an hour she would get into some sort of trouble, it seemed. And it usually had to do with boys. Cake felt that she would really have to keep tighter security when it came to her sister. Even if that meant she would have to stand up to a vampire. She steeled herself and walked into the room. Marshall could smell her fear, but saw no signs of it. He was impressed that she was so committed. Cake lifted Fionna out of his arms.

"That's enough. Just leave." She was firm about the fact that Marshall would never be welcome around Fionna.

"The sun's still out." He pulled the curtain back a little, allowing a ray of sunlight to land on the floor. "And if you hadn't noticed, I'm almost as beat up as her." Marshall lifted the shirt he was wearing to reveal the large splits in his olive skin. They had healed a little bit more, but they were still fairly large. Cake flinched a little at the sight. But she was still angry.

"I don't really care. My sister is off-limits."

"Cake!" Fionna looked at her sister with an appalled look. Why was she being so mean to him? He didn't do anything. "I don't get what junk makes you so mad about Marshall." She pushed her sister away and stood. "He didn't do anything." That wasn't true. The reason Fionna got hurt was because Marshall loved her. He tried to hide the sting. "Seriously, guys." As she exited the room, Gumball tried to help her. "No. I can walk on my own." She wobbled unsteadily down the hallway. Marshall really wasn't good with awkward situations, and when everyone started staring angrily at him, he didn't know what to do. Neither did anyone else, he supposed, because after a while they all followed Fionna.

* * *

The story seemed less strong here. I needed another break, so I visited my fellow penguins again. They were starting to give each other tips about writing, even though none of them knew what they were talking about. Another penguin came up and offered me her book. There was no title yet, and it was practically falling apart. I opened it up and could barely read the messy scrawl that coated the yellowed pages. I suppose we were running short on books around here…

* * *

The entire night was a disaster fir her. Ice Queen ruined the entire night. Fionna sobed quietly, sitting by the river banks. "Why did i rejact him? Why was i so stewpied?" The crickets chirped a sad tune, it made her cry more. The moon shined brightlay in the water. Another glow joined it. "You here to be sad too?" Fionna turned around. She met with glowing red eyes of a fire elemental "W-who are you?" The man chuckkled. "I'm Flame Prince. What's your name?" Fionna brushed a hair out of her eyes. "I'm Fionna. So, why are you sad?" Flame Prince sat down. "My girlfriend, well ex, dumped me. What about you?" Fionna sieghd. "I regected a guy. I must have hurt him." The two's eyes met and they realized, They were made for eachother. They went in to kiss. Suddenly, a big wave went an SPLASHHED on Flame Prince! "NOOOOOOOOOOO" Fiona was dragged into the sea, where she dieees of Freght. –MajinCelia

* * *

Yep. That was enough for today. I gave the book back and didn't say anything. I walked away and went back home. Funny, I didn't see Gunther anywhere. He was probably working on his story. I smiled. He was trying to impress me.

**[Well... This part was painful to post. I feel like it's getting really sub-par... I've actually got a life now, though. Joined a band, Drama club, and am trying to figure out boys again. I gave up on that a long time ago, but now it's more urgent. Anyway, I hope you guys liked this more than I do right now. Reviews are appreciated.]**


	18. Chapter 18: Chords

Marshall sat at home. He was frustrated with the whole situation. He was also amazed that his wounds had only half healed. Generally twelve hours was enough to fully recover. And nobody could stand to be around him, even more so than before. "It's like I'm not… even a person, am I? I'm just their problem." He sung quietly to himself. How was it that everybody hated him? He wasn't bad. Well, not considering the small amount of time they had known him. Marshall was a different person than he was before. At first, he was a good person. He had to be, for Simone. He remembered how lost he felt when Simone left him. She wasn't his mentor anymore. She was the incarnation of winter. Eventually, she would leave for days at a time and wouldn't recognize him if she passed by. Her crown stayed on at all hours of the day. Many times, Marshall tried to strike up a conversation with her and each time it was more difficult to get her to remember him. She kept calling him Gunther.

Eventually, his real mother started talking to him. He was scared of her at first. _Why do you think you survived the Mushroom War? Why are your ears pointed and why do you have gray skin?_ It was a lot for him to take in. Eventually Simone had so much difficulty recognizing Marshall, she saw him as a threat. In her last moment of sanity, she decided to leave him. He was all alone. How could she leave him when he was sick?

Ugh. He needed to calm down. He was getting flustered about everything all at once. Maybe he wasn't healing because of all the anxiety.

It seemed that the opposing party only made Marshall want Fionna more. It made her more of a forbidden fruit. Just then, Marshall realized that he still had a song to write. It was much easier for him to write a song when he was emotional, and it helped him blow off steam. He grabbed his guitar and his tattered notebook full of songs. It was practically his diary, but with rhymes and chords. He flipped to the second-last page which had the small bit of song on it. He put his fingers on the frets and played the C written on the page.

"Good little girl," His fingers were on Am.

"You're what I'm looking for.

I want you so bad…

You know that you mean the world."

No. Even though it had a really nice flow to it, there wasn't really anywhere to go from that point. And it made him seem really creepy. Maybe he should make it less obvious. The guitar strings made a small sliding noise as he ran his fingers back to the C position. The framework of the song was flexible, so he changed the syllables around a bit.

"Good little girl,

Always picking a fight with me.

You know that I'm bad,

But you're spending the night with me." He liked it. He wrote it into the notebook. It reminded him of the time that she asked him to come to a couple's movie night. He really didn't want a relationship at that point, and he tried to scare her away. But she was too stubborn. He went when she told him it was a 'just friends' thing. It also reminded him of the time Fionna became his Thrall in the place of an old man, back when they were still unfamiliar with each other. She was so passionate about saving the day… He didn't understand why she hung out with an ex-evil guy.

"What?

Do you want?

From my world,

You're a good little girl." He smiled as he scrawled the lyrics and chords on the page. Maybe when it was finished he could sing it to her. Getting into the castle was a problem, though… Maybe by that time everyone would have calmed down about the whole incident.

"Don't you know I'm a villain?

Every night I'm out, killin',

Sendin' everybody running like children," He stopped because he had run out of ideas, but also because there was a knock on the door. He was surprised that anyone other than him was awake at this hour. As he got up off his couch, he saw that an envelope had fallen to the floor in front of the slot in the front door. He picked it up and flipped it so he could see the front. There was a postage stamp from Lumpy Space on it. He stared at it, and found the doorknob without looking up. When he raised his eyes again, he had opened the door. Nobody was there. He stared out into the darkness, and he could see the outline of someone dissolving into a treeline. They were fast! He couldn't make out their color because it was pitch black outside, and they were too far away for him to see any detail. He neatly tore the top of the envelope. _The Royal Prince of Lumpy Space cordially invites you to a party in the woods. Bring a friend!_ The party was dated a few days from now. Hopefully Fionna would be feeling better by then.

* * *

SLAP! I nearly jumped out of my seat at the loud noise outside. The book and pencil had flown a few feet away from my lap where they were resting. It was evening, and I was worried that something was out there. It could've been a snow golem, which wasn't all that scary. On the other hand it could've been Hunson Abadeer again. Which was scary if Crazy Gunther wasn't around. If it was a polar bear, I was screwed. I stayed still for a while… No other sounds. I slowly, cautiously peeked outside of my cave. There was a fish beside Gunther's book. I picked it up and munched on it. I also grabbed the book and went back to my seat inside. I opened it up to the second chapter, the fish hanging from my mouth as I slowly gnawed at it.


	19. Chapter 19: Chapter Two

"UGH!" I shouted, slamming the door behind me. The house didn't shake, not even a little. Fionna HAD built it to be stable, because, well, I'm not exactly the most stable. _Fionna…_ Just the thought of her brought a whole new wave of emotion. My eyes stung as they longed to produce tears (they couldn't, since, you know, fire and water don't mix).

* * *

…The brackets killed the emotion of the story a little bit. I made a quick note of it near the paragraph. I made it light so that it could easily be erased.

* * *

Visions of her burned lips danced in my head. I moaned, and punched the wall. Why did she give up so much to be with me? I mean, she was FIONNA! She was smart, adventurous, sweet…and kinda cute. She could be with anybody she wanted.

Me? I destroyed or hurt everything I touched. I have a temper, too, but Fionna never yelled at me. She never got angry with me. I didn't deserve her.

I slowly pulled myself up, hating how weak I felt. There had to be some way I could stop hurting Fionna. Just as the thought came into my head, an answer came. I shook my head violently, and pressed my hand to my mouth to stifle the cries.

"No," I whispered. "No, no, no, no!" I couldn't break up with her! She was the only reason I left the fire kingdom in the first place! And…I think she was changing me.

And I think I liked that.

* * *

The singular line there made the sentence have a big impact. And I think I liked that._  
_

* * *

But if someone had to get hurt…maybe it was better to be me. If I lo-…liked her that much, maybe I had to let her , I smelled something sweet, and a smile pulled at my lips. I looked on the windowsill, only to find that in my funk, some of my flames had melted some bubblegum.

* * *

Why was there bubblegum? Where did it come from?

* * *

Wait a minute…

"YES!" I cried, spinning in a circle. Maybe there WAS a way to make Fionna and I work.

About an hour later, I finally reached the gate. It rose high into the air, showing the world its red, glossy, glory. I stuck my tongue out and licked it."Perfect!" I smiled, while tasting some more. Whoever had decided to make gates out of Twizzlers was okay in my book.

"HEY!" I turned, to see a round, circle-shaped thing giving me a dirty look.

"What?" I asked.

She sighed, then pointed at the gate. "These are the only things that keep bad things out of our kingdom! So don't eat them, please."

If you're going to make a gate out of some of the most delicious candy in Aaa, NEWSFLASH: they WILL be eaten.

* * *

Another break in the feel of the scene. I guess it depended how you looked at it… I would let this one slide. I couldn't give him a perfect story, because then there would be too much competition. I flipped to the next page to continue reading.

* * *

I smirked a little at his oblivion. "How about we make a deal…er…"

"Cinnamon Bun, at your service!" She said, smiling.

"Okay, Cinnamon Bun," I answered, trying not to giggle at her name. "How about this._ I_ won't eat the gate anymore, but then _you_ have to escort me to Prince Gumball."

* * *

Apparently Cinnamon Bun's name was funny. Why is everyone so mean to Cinnamon Bun? He's half-baked, just leave him alone!

* * *

Her grin never faltered. "Okay, sounds sweet!" She said, then grabbed my hand and led me through town. I felt my mouth drop open upon seeing the kingdom. Candy was everywhere! I licked my lips hungrily, before guiltily remembering that they were all alive.

Right in the middle, a huge, sugary castle loomed over the land. Streams of syrup poured from moats, while ice cream cones topped each tower. The smell was hypnotic. "Is this his castle?" I asked, trying not to drool.

"But of course!" Cinnamon Bun replied, then dragged me through the halls of it so fast, I don't remember a second of it.

Finally she stopped at a door. _Knock, knock, knock._

"Who is it?" Answered a sweet voice.

"It's Cinnamon Bun!" She said perkily. "I brought you a visitor!"

"Ooo, a visit…" the door swung open to reveal a teenager with pink hair and a pretty face.

He stuttered upon seeing me, and a flash of anger crossed his face. I tried very hard to ignore it, but by the way Cinnamon Bun hopped away shouting, "BURNED BUNS BURNED BUNS!" I don't think I did a very good job.

* * *

I wasn't even sure what was happening here. It needed a little more explanation.

* * *

Suddenly, his face lightened up. "You're Flame Prince, right?" He asked. Before I could answer, he pulled me into the room, and closed the door.

I smiled weakly, "Um, sorry about…"

He waved it off. "She's kind of a patoot anyway."

The silence that put a whole new meaning to "awkward silence". Rage started to course through my veins.

* * *

How is awkwardness related to rage…?

* * *

"Are you going to help me or not?" I shouted, as my flames flared. As soon as it happened, I felt even worse. Why would he help me now? I ruined everything!

* * *

There was no previous discussion of anybody helping anybody. Flame prince was starting to sound like a patoot himself.

* * *

But to my surprise, Prince Gumball laughed. "Of course you did! By the way, how's Fionna?"

* * *

Aaaaaand we've changed the subject. I think Gunther was just rushing through this part and didn't look it over.

* * *

Everything but my cheeks cooled at the mention of her name. Did all of Aaa know about our relationship?

I took a deep breath. "Actually, that's what I came to talk to you about."

He slid out a chair while I was talking, and sat. "These aren't fireproof…so," he said, and I nodded. Even he knew how dangerous I was.

"So what's up?" he asked.

"Well, I know you and Fionna are really good friends, and…"

"Good friends?" he laughed to himself, like tinkling bells. "Dude, she's obsessed with me."

I clenched my fists for a moment, urging the fury to pass. "Not anymore."

He shrugged, then made gestured me to continue.

"Anyway…I feel like I'm putting her in danger…"

"Which you are!" he exclaimed. "I mean, duh, you're made of fire, she's a human, which is 75% water." He whipped out a dusty book from the counter and flipped through the pages, before showing me one. "See? You're not supposed to mix."

The yellowed page clearly showed fire with a big slash through the water drop next to it.

"Then what do I do?" I asked, frustrated. He certainly wasn't the best listener.

Princess Gumball looked me straight in the eye. "Duh. You break up with her." I saw his eyes widen as my flames grew. "Didn't you want the truth?" he asked putting the book down calmly.

"UGH!" I groaned, and opened the door to leave, only to find that I had burned a good half of it.

"Mathematical," I mumbled in sarcasm.

I was about halfway down the hall before I heard the, "WAIT!" called after me.

I hesitantly turned to see Prince Gumball, a small smirk tugging at his lips, gesturing for me to come closer. I did. He quickly looked both ways, before whispering in my ear, "How would you like to become human?"

* * *

What a way to end a chapter! I wanted more, definitely. I mulled over it again, pointing out minor spelling errors. This story was getting interesting. I put the book back outside. But I didn't want anything to happen to it, like a snowstorm. I chiseled a crevice into the outside of my cave, and slid the book inside it just as I could no longer see because the sun went down. I waddled back inside and fell asleep.


	20. Chapter 20: Games

"Who wants to play videogames?" Fionna's eyes opened at the sound of a familiar voice. She adjusted herself so that she would be sitting upright. She rubbed her eyes as little plastic feet clacked closer to her bed. BMO giggled as she climbed onto the hospital bed. She began bouncing up and down.

"Hey BMO! What's up?" Fionna mumbled. Cake came into the room carrying Fionna's signature green backpack.

"Brought you some stuff. Thought you might want some jammies." She placed the backpack on the bed in front of her sister.

"Thanks dude." Fionna said before rummaging through her stuff. She found her hat and slipped it on. A strand was dangling loosely from the opening of the hat.

"We need to wash your shirt again. It'll be hard to get the stain out."

"S'okay bro. So…What 'yall doin' here?" BMO climbed further up Fionna's stomach.

"I wanted to play _Conversation Parade_!" The 8-bit tune of the game started to play as BMO smiled in anticipation. The room was silent except for BMO. She started bobbing up and down to the beat as everyone stared blankly at her.

"Nah. I'd rather play Guardians of Sunshine." Fionna replaced all of the items in her backpack and stood up. "Why don't we go play in the common room?" Fionna was desperate for a change of scenery. Cake stood by to help her walk, but Fionna was already running down the hall.

"Hey! You're supposed to take it easy, girl!" Cake yelled after her. BMO ran past the cat to catch up.

"Yaaaaaaaa- Oof!" BMO tripped and fell face down. She picked herself back up and continued running down the hallway. "Yaaaaaaaay!" Fionna plopped down on one of the pink couches and began to play. Cake walked in and noticed that one of the couches was missing all of its cushions. It smelled gross, there were small brown stains on it.

She joined Fionna and the blue-green console on the couch and picked up a controller.

"We're gonna beat this game today!" Fionna declared excitedly.

"I'm gonna beat it before you!" Cake jeered in response.

"You can't beat me! I'm bloobalooby!" The sisters both laughed at the memory of the first time that Gumball had used that phrase. After a few deaths as a result of Sleepy Sam, Fionna struck up a conversation.

"Hey, Cake?"

"Yeah, girl?" Cake didn't take her eyes off the game.

"How come you hate Marshall Lee?" Cake did a double-take, causing her Sunshine Guardian to fall into a flaming pit and lose a life. She cleared her throat.

"I don't." Cake's character respawned right as Fionna paused the game.

"Don't lie to me. You're a total patoot to him! He saved my life, Cake." Fionna was unsure how to feel. She'd never needed someone like that… Cake was the only one that she could really count on to have her back.

"It's a Cat thing! You would understand if you were-" Cake stopped midway through her sentence.

"If I were what? Older?" Fionna became angry at her sister.

"No! That's not what I was going to say!" Cake panicked as she tried not to hurt her sister's feelings. But Fionna realized what Cake was trying to say. She struggled to hold back tears. She couldn't help whether she was adopted or not.

"That's low, man." Cake grimaced at her mistake. She was supposed to protect her sister. She wasn't supposed to make her cry. Ever.

"Fi! Don't cry! I didn't mean it like that!" She went to hug her sister.

"But that's what you meant." Fionna's tears seeped into her sister's fur. Cake hugged tighter as Fionna sobbed quietly.

"Fionna, do you remember all those stories Mom told us 'bout the war?" Cake stroked her sister's back in an attempt to calm her down.

"The Mushroom War?"

"No. The battle for Aaa."

"Not really." Fionna sniffled.

"Well, a whole bunch a' armies from the Nightosphere just marched into Aaa one day. They came through one of the nicest forests in all a' the kingdoms, and they turned it into the Dark, Scary Forest. That's where the Cat family was livin' at the time." BMO had gone into sleep mode. "All the kingdoms sent their warriors and stuff over and helped the animals get the math outta there. When all of the armies in Aaa came back to the forest once everyone was safe, they fought the demons back into the Nightosphere, all the way to the vampire that started the whole thing.

"They made swords out of the demon's blood when they realized all the cool stuff it did. Aunt Schwabelle was leading the charge of animals. So, Yeah. They met that vampire dude and he killed her. No mercy or anything." There was silence. "Now do you understand?" Fionna wasn't sniffling anymore. She unlatched herself slowly from Cake and looked at her.

"Yeah. I guess."

"It's just a history thing, Fi. I'm natural enemies with vampires." Cake refrained from telling the whole truth.

"But that's dirtballs. He never did anything to you."

"You're right. I'll be nicer." There was another silence. "So… You wanna play Kompy's Castle?"

"Awwww Yeaaahhh! I rock at that game!" Fionna woke BMO up and began having a random conversation with her. Cake tried not to let her face show what she was thinking. The person who started that war was the Vampire King, but she would never tell Fionna.

Prince Gumball entered the room. "Here's your shirt, _sans_ stain." He handed it to Fionna. "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty Rhombus." She replied casually, accepting her clothing.

"Well, I'll have to send you out for some more Cyclops tears once you're feeling better. I'll need to experiment on it to isolate the healing enzymes."

"I could get some right now." She paused the game and started to stand up.

"No, get some more rest just in case. I wouldn't want to be pushing it if I were you." He pushed her shoulders down gently so that she was forced to sit down again.

"Well, I won't stay after tomorrow. I need to go do some dungeons." Gumball sighed. Her mind was already set. There was no stopping her.

"Fine. Just be careful out there, and try not to exert yourself too much." He put on a fake smile to try and hide his concern.

**[Trying to piece together the rest of the story... Don't worry. It'll be a long one. We haven't even gotten into the fluff yet. It'll be my first time writing fluff... So I hope that it's half-decent.]**


	21. Chapter 21: Confusing Intrusion

Marshall snuck into the treehouse expertly through the moonlight, guitar hanging from his back. He knew every entrance, exit, and secret passageway in the house. He chose the weak spot in the roof of the attic, lifting up a branch to reveal all of the junk they kept up there. Yet again, he was unsure why he was doing this. Although, he snuck into their house often .When it came to Fionna, it seemed, he could be very illogical. Fionna was still in recovery, to his knowledge. Marshall was amazed at how slow mortals healed. He wondered how they survived at all. Although, his slash wounds were still slight scars. Marshall wondered if they would ever heal properly.

He was just going to hang around in the living room and wait until they got home, but he was intrigued by the collection of stuff in the attic. Most of it was nonsensical disorder, but there were a few treasures. Ancient books in languages he couldn't read. Some that he knew a little bit of. Amulets, weapons, and other religious artifacts that he was sure they didn't know anything about. The religious artifacts reminded him of his father, even though he didn't really remember his dad. Marshall grabbed one of the books written in Gaelic and another one written in Latin. He headed down to the main floor.

Cake would flip out if she knew he was here. She would probably ask for an explanation, but Marshall didn't have one. Except for boredom, and inviting Fionna to LSP's party. Cake was always wary of him, but never as high-strung as this. Maybe she somehow knew that her sister's near-death experience was a result of Marshall's actions. He hovered leisurely through the house, memories flourishing. Where his furniture used to be, Fionna's replaced it. The shelves that used to be filled with Ashley's potion supplies were replaced by small trinkets and trophies from Fionna's adventures. The same way that she replaced Ash in his heart. He looked through the fridge, and there was an uncooked steak sitting there waiting to be eaten. He sat on the couch, absentmindedly sipping it. Something with blood in it… It was a nice change of pace. He looked at the ripped painting on one of the shelves. It really suited the ambiance of the room. Marshall knew that Fionna was no interior designer, but the room definitely suited her.

The house smelled different. It still smelled like the same house, but with more of a sweet scent. He tried to struggle through one of the books. These languages were dead everywhere except in the Nightosphere. Apparently, they were old languages _before_ the mushroom war. He picked up a little bit from Simone, and would commonly use Latin terms in codes back in the days when he was part of a gang. Marshall wondered if he was just going to wait here for Fionna to get back. He wanted to ask her to come to Lumpy Space Prince's party tomorrow… Hopefully she would be recovered by then. He strummed the chords for his song, thinking of new lyrics to polish it off.

Eventually, he became lost in his memories. Like the first time they met, three years ago when he returned from his trip around Aaa. She was still young, she still sounded like a kid. Funny, he scared the plop dumps out of the two, and after introducing himself he kicked them out of the treehouse. And stole BMO, messing up all their highscores. He then heard that two famous adventurers were throwing a party, and he wanted to meet famous people of Aaa. He came to the party, not realizing that it was just Fionna and Cake again. He decided that it was more fun to bother them, so he kicked them out of their new cave. Then he threatened to kill Cake… Maybe that was one of the reasons she was so wary of him. He had an epic battle with Fionna because she thought that Cake was actually dead. It was then that he decided they were worthwhile friends. That was back before he learned to properly use his Axe-Guitar.

From that point on, most of the stuff he did was just to mess with them. He found it much too fun, and spied on them regularly. Cake used to be so scared of him… It was liberating for some reason. He would set up scenarios just to see what the dynamic duo would do in response. He called his old 'henchwoman' out and forced her to do menial things such as entertainment. She was really just one of his friends that owed him a favour. Fionna took her place, being an honest hero, and Marshall kept putting her into awkward situations. Fionna was just fun to toy with. And Cake was too scared to effectively help her sister out. People thought that they were a couple. He just teased and teased her… Because he knew she could take it. He was pretty much using the opportunity to show off to her. Cake finally faced her fear and attacked Marshall, but this time Fionna was protecting him. They soon became the best of friends.

Or like Couple's Movie Night a few years ago. Cake had called him and asked him to come help her get a date. Obviously, she meant Gumball, so he agreed. He always loved messing with Gumball. Marshall was already inside the house when she called, and snuck up behind her. Marshall and Cake were competing over dating advice for Fionna, all the while Marshall was giving her terrible advice. He thought her gullible nature was cute, and used Fionna to prank Pinky. There was one point where he took Fionna out into the wilderness and they ran with a pack of wolves. They carried two of the wolves back with them and unleashed them into Gumball's room. Marshall silently chuckled at the memory of Gumball's expression. Eventually, Fionna asked Marshall to go with her. He tried to scare her away, but she wasn't even phased by his scariest forms. They just went and crashed the event.

So many good memories… It was hard to believe that they did all that cool stuff together in only three years of knowing each other. It made sense to him now. He loved her because she was simply the right one for him. Just thinking of her made his chest feel all tight and his cheeks warm. It was worth the struggle. He would never meet a girl like Fionna ever again. The last human.

* * *

**[yeah...This was weak. I know. I just pretty much explained a couple episodes. But stuff's going to happen again, I promise.]**


	22. Chapter 22: Let's Just Go

The door to the house opened. Marshall opened his eyes slowly, expecting it to be Fionna coming to visit him. But he glimpsed up at a wood-planked ceiling before he realized that he wasn't at home. He was at Fionna's house! Quickly and silently, he shoved the books he was reading underneath one of the couch cushions and threw the limp, greyish steak he ate earlier out the window. He could hear them mumbling as they came up the ladder into the living room. He became invisible and hid himself in one of the top corners of the room. "It's so great to be back home!" Fionna said rather loudly as she plopped her backpack onto the floor. She pulled herself up off the ladder and then moved the backpack onto the couch that Marshall had been sleeping over just a minute ago. "Although, today wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be."

Cake put BMO down on the floor near the ladder and went to the fridge. She opened it. "Well, what did you expect, honey? Gumball's not going to send you out on a big dangerous mission on your first day out." She moved around a couple things in the fridge. "Hey, Fi? Did you touch that steak?"

"No, why?" Fionna answered, looking up from the open chest she was sitting in front of. Cake shrugged and grabbed a couple miscellaneous foods, then managed to squeeze them into a tortilla. She came closer to Fionna, and Marshall held his breath. He was fully expecting Cake to sense him again, for her tail to fluff up dramatically. But nothing happened.

"Whatcha lookin' for?" Cake took a bite out of her Everything Burrito, the contents now oozing out of the top.

"Something to do. I'm pretty bored." Fionna churned the contents of the chest around. "Whoa! When did we get these?!" She pulled out two mismatched tomahawks, staring at them with her big, blue eyes.

"I think those were from that gladiator coliseum." Cake mumbled, her mouth full of food. She must've calmed down quite a bit, because Marshall was hiding from her as easily as he normally did when spying on the two.

Fionna stood up and tested out the blades with a couple of impressive slashes, dodging and countering as if she were in a real fight. It was almost like watching a dance. She jumped backward and whipped one of the tomahawks into the wall. It wobbled as it protruded from a knothole underneath a window. She smiled triumphantly. Marshall loved her smile. She was usually smiling, and some days it made his life more bearable.

"Hey, BMO!" Fionna called to the console, who was currently trying to balance on an apple. BMO fell off and hit the floor with a light _clack_.

"Yes, Fionna?"

"Put that apple on your head, and sit down over there." She pointed with the tip of the blade.

BMO obeyed, sitting in front of the tree's trunk, which had boards nailed to it in a ladder pattern.

"Okay! Ready!" The console banged its heels on the floor as Fionna struck ridiculous stances, making 'haiyah!' noises, and Cake cheered her on. They were always having fun… Marshall felt bad that he didn't hang out with them a lot. He would have to change that. With a louder grunt, Fionna whipped the small axe at the apple. The board behind it split and fell to the ground aside the perfectly split apple halves. BMO was unharmed. She gave a thumbs-up.

"Oooh, nice throw!" Cake admired her sister's accuracy.

Fionna turned to face her. "Thanks. I've gotta do _something_ today."

"What about Gumball's mission we went on this mornin'? Deliverin' daisy chains to the Fluffy people not enough for you?" That sounded like the most feminine and dainty mission in the world. Hence, the answer to that question was no. Marshall couldn't see the expression on Fionna's face, but he imagined it was kind of an awkward grimace.

"Eeeeh…Sometimes Gumball's missions can be so… lame." She wound up to throw the other tomahawk, and released it just as a familiar-sounding "Hello, everybo-" drew Marshall's attention to the direction it was flying.

Gumball squeaked in surprise as the axe harmlessly sliced through his haircut. He stood there in his pink apron, with his pink cream puffs as his pink bubble-gum hair gently flopped out of place. Fionna and Cake both gasped.

"Oh, my!" He exclaimed, looking up at his hair. "Looks like _you_ almost skronked up my dome-piece!" He licked his finger and thumb on his free hand and stuck it back together. Those cream puffs smelled awesome…Marshall always did like the Prince's cooking. Gumball smiled when his hair was fixed again. He began to approach the sisters. "Boy, have I got a treat for you two! The Fluffy people and I baked these in appreciation for the mission you've completed." He held them out toward Fionna. "They're cream puffs. Try one." He waved them up and down in an attempt to get her to eat one.

"Uhhh…I'd love to…but…maybe later." She said awkwardly. She was probably still frazzled about whatever happened between them at that party. Marshall could see that she needed an excuse to get out of the conversation, and knocked over a wooden container on a nearby shelf. "What was that?" Everyone began scanning the room, Fionna looking out the rain-spattered windowpane. Marshall figured that now was a good time to interrupt. He zoomed behind her with all the speed he had, making her gasp. She turned around to see that Gumball's platter no longer had any cream puffs.

"Uh!...Awwww." Gumball's surprise turned into disappointment. Marshall chuckled silently to himself as he floated up through the rain, his wet hair sticking to his face. His hair impaired his vision a bit, allowing him to misjudge the distance he was above the roof, and he landed with a loud thud. He began playing his guitar, wanting to show off for Fionna. He closed his eyes and strummed. He heard a gasp, followed by a put-off Gumball saying "Oh. It's just _him_."

Marshall continued strumming and opened his eyes. "Oh, hey Fionna." He said in a seductive tone.

"Marshall Lee!" Fionna exclaimed, holding an umbrella over herself, the cat in her hat, and the prince on her back. Gumball didn't do much of anything for Fionna, except use her like a pawn. But she did everything for him. Marshall really didn't get why Fionna was so into Gumball. Almost as if reading Marshall's thoughts, the Pink Prince cleared his throat.

Marshall stopped strumming. "Oh, forgive me! _Hello_, your majesty." He mock-bowed, then took a cream puff out of his shirt and tauntingly sucked the pink from it.

"Fionna, take me back inside." The prince demanded.

"Whaaaat…Is he kidding?" Marshall threw the grey cream puff into Gumball's face.

"Oh! Honestly!" Gumball climbed off of Fionna's back, taking the umbrella with him. "I'm going in. Come join me when you want more _polite_ company." He climbed back down the ladder so that he could wash the colourless cream off of his face.

"Be careful!" Fionna called down after him. There was a slipping noise and a "Whoa!" when Fionna called down again. "You got it!" Just as the door closed, the rain stopped. Marshall sighed. He hated to see the Prince treat her like that.

"What a wad."

"Heehee! A…Gum-wad?" Fionna blushed again as she put a hand up to her mouth.

"Ugh! Fionna!" Cake grumbled from inside the hat, annoyed. She couldn't have her sister participate in the Gumball hate-club. Who else was she to marry off Fionna to? This vampire?!

Marshall laughed and strummed four chords. "Let's ditch him!"

"Uuuh…"

Marshall leaned in closer. "Lumpy Space Prince is throwing a party in the woods!" He spun around and turned his head into a bat head. "It's gonna be freaking nasty!" He grew into a full-sized bat monster, his guitar hanging around his neck as if it were jewelry.

"Uuuh…"

Marshall held out his large hand. "I know you're going to say yes to me… so let's just go." She smiled and grabbed his finger. He flew her out to the party as she yelled in delight, as if she were on a rollercoaster. _Fi, this rollercoaster hasn't even started._

* * *

__**[Well. I hope you all know that I don't own Bad Little Boy and I don't want to get in trouble for the similarities. I gotta tell you, translating a minute and a half of an episode into text takes a lot longer than it would seem... Pretty much this chapter's statement is 'Game On!" **

**Feel free to give small suggestions! I saw one that was "I hope we get to see more of LSP." So now I have to go and watch a couple more episodes... But if you want something specific to happen at the party feel free to suggest it. Because I want there to be an actual party, more FioLee action that way.]**


	23. Chapter 23: Chapter Three

This time there were two books. One was the usual, Three Days For Three Words, and there was another one with no title. I felt like some sort of wise, mystical sage that wasn't allowed to be visited. A messenger would have to carry the stories to my secret temple in the mountains, then bring the edits back down to the villagers. It was starting to get weird, but I didn't have to deal with anybody face-to-face anymore. And I also got free fish! Naturally, I wanted to see chapter three of Gunther's story first. I pulled them out of my ice drop-box.

* * *

"OUCH!" Prince Gumball cried as one of my flames burned him. I ignored him. I was too in shock about what he had just said.

"Is…" I started. "Is that possible?"

He glared at me while rubbing his now pinker arm. "I'm a mad scientist, Prince. Anything is possible for me."

Then he smiled. "Well, come on. Let's go to the lab. I'm guessing sooner is better, right?" I smiled, and heard, "OW!" from all around me. It's not my fault excitement made my flames lash out. But soon…

* * *

It was never established that they weren't alone in the room. I had assumed that this was supposed to be a secret endeavor.

* * *

Soon I wouldn't have to worry about that anymore. I'd just be a person. Oh, Fionna would be so surprised!

I was so lost in thought, I wasn't even aware we were walking until the large, white door slammed into my face.

I gingerly rubbed my forehead, before following Prince Gumball in.

To say I was impressed would be an understatement. Lining the huge room were shelves, all decked with different bottles, formulas, potions, dusts…etc. Two rectangular metal tables split the middle of the room. Each had its own microscope.

"Just sit there for a minute," he said, pointing to a small red chair.

"Won't I burn it?" I asked, starting to sit.

"Nope. It's made of the same material as that fireproof safe Fionna gave me." A huge wave of fire swallowed the chair and I.

* * *

It was really obvious that the safe was going to be important.

* * *

"See? It's totally safe," he replied, looking at the undamaged chair. "Now if you'll excuse me…"

Prince Gumball walked over to a huge bookshelf wedged in the corner.

"Hmmm," he mumbled, tapping his lip. "I could've sworn I put it here somewhere…oh!" he reached up and pulled out a thick, dusty book.

"I got it for my birthday a while ago," he responded to my questioning look. "I wanted to turn into a merman, actually."

"We always want what we can't have," I said, playing with the material on the chair. He laughed. "Ain't that the truth," he whispered, thumbing through the yellowed pages. "AHA!"

Suddenly, he sprinted around the lab, picking up random bottles and pouring them into a small wine glass. He slowly started to stir it, and it hissed in response.

I recoiled. "Are you sure that's safe?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he placed the glass on a heater and started typing furiously on the computer. Reaching in the drawer below it, he pulled out a bluish paper, and stuck it in the printer.

_Click._ The page slowly slid through the machine, coming out the other end with words imprinted. It was too far away to read…

"Done!"

Finally! I smiled and reached out a hand to grab the glass. If I hurried, I could surprise Fionna with a make-up dinner.

To my surprise, Prince Gumball slapped my hand away.

"What?" I cried.

"There is a catch, you know," he answered, pulling himself on top of the lab table to face me. "Things_ this_ magical don't come free."

"Okay, how much do you want?" I asked. "All I really have is firemoney, but I could get it exchanged for…"

He giggled. "Dude, I'm a prince too. Money doesn't mean anything to me."

I rolled my eyes, getting impatient. "Okay, then what do you want?"

He set the glass down, and looked me right in the eye. "How about I explain how it works, and give my price after. I'm sure you'll find it…reasonable."

I shrugged, and waved him on.

"So," He smoothed out his shirt. "By drinking this, you will get three days, count them, THREE days, as a human."

"Only three days?" I asked, feeling the rage start to kick in again.

"Yep. Unless…"

"Unless what?"

Suddenly, I felt a hot, sticky glob covering my mouth. I struggled to get it off, but had no success.

"Just let me explain!" he cried, massaging his hand from where he had shot bubblegum at me. "Glob, you're loud!"

* * *

I didn't know bubblegum people could do that... Cool!

* * *

He took a breath. "I'm just going to start over. Okay?" I nodded.

"Okay, so when you drink this, you'll become a human for three days, got it?"

I nodded.

"If, and only if, you can get Fionna to tell you the three most powerful words in the world, that is, 'I love you', then your transformation will become permanent."

He gave me a weird look. "And she has to say it on her own. You can't tell her anything about this spell. Or me, okay?"

Despite the weirdness of it all, I felt a grin spreading. I knew she loved me, she had practically said those words many times. This would be a cakewalk.

"However, if she doesn't, you will return to normal, and…"

My eyes widened at this. There was more?

"Fionna will forget you, and you will belong to me." He slowly pulled a piece of paper out of the printer. "Just sign here and we can get started."

I felt the flames course through my body. Slowly, bubblegum dripped onto my lap, until I was able to say, "Are you kidding me?"

He shrugged. "You'll get to be human. And if she loves you as much as you seem to think, then you should have no problems."

I nodded slowly. "And…and she'll just…forget me?"

"Like you never met." I thought about life without her. It was pretty hard to imagine. Maybe this was too risky…

"Wow, prince, it almost seems like you're questioning her love for you," Prince Gumball continued, swirling the liquid in the glass. "Or maybe you're not as willing to risk things for her as she is for you."

His bitter laugh echoed through the room. "She puts her life on the line everyday to be with you, but you can't do this one, tiny thing to make her happy."

That was it. I grabbed the paper and shot fire at it, forming my signature. Surprisingly, the burns quickly turned to a silvery print.

He smiled. "Oh, that's magic paper LSP gave me! You can sign it with fire."

* * *

Ehhh... A little bit distasteful explanation.

* * *

He glanced at the paper. "Yup, looks legal to me. There's no turning back now, you know."

I already had the glass in my hand. "Guess not," I answered, before drinking.

It felt like cool water was washing over me, before turning into ice. Ice that stabbed me, cooling my precious fire.

Snow. Ice. Water. Cold. Freeze.

The world went black. -MirrorXMirror

* * *

I really liked where the story was going. Just needed a little more subtlety when getting across minor ideas. I placed it back in the slot and picked up the other book. The entry was only a couple pages, titled "Oneshot". Curious, I set down the fish I was pecking at and held the book with both hands. It seemed to be another Flame Prince story.

* * *

"So...you really _do_ love Flame Prince?"

The room was in silence as the bubblegum Prince awaited for an answer from the girl he was sitting in front of. He _knew_ she would say so, but there's no harm in asking just to make sure.

Even if it was going to break his heart into a million pieces, the shattered ones never going to be mend again.

Fionna looked into his beautiful purple eyes, and then she saw—the sadness in those eyes. The sorrow, the guilt, the disappointment. How could he not be? She had given him the chance, he was the one who didn't take it. She saw in the far corner tears were forming in them. But should she care? He had always pushed her away, made her cry, and only rarely does he return his affection for her. So _should she care?_

**_Yes._**

However hard the pain was, she should care. Because he was a person. A person with feelings, emotions—he can get hurt and sometimes he needs a comforting shoulder to put his head on. Maybe the reason that he didn't return those feelings is because he was too afraid to screw up—but that coud only mean worse if they got into a relationship.

If ever they got into one. It seems unlikely, but there's still a faint of hope.

A faint of hope that was slowly—but surely—fading away. Every minute she spent time with her new love, the more of that hope gets ceased...until there was nothing left but a missed opportunity.

The chance he didn't get, the chance that he rejected.

"...Yes."

The answer hurt, especially if it came from her mouth. But it was all his fault. He was given the chance not every ordinary guy had before, but he just threw it out the window like some old bubblegum wrapper. And before you knew it, that wrapper would be trotted on forever until it rots altogether.

It was all his fault. He should've found another way to stay in his little angel form, but no. He just _had_ to give up so easily.

He should have found a way. – EgglentinetheBreakfastPrincess

* * *

It was really good, aside from the wording and spelling errors. I corrected them. Another decent one. It was short and sweet,and got the point across very... poetically. I was returning the book to the slot when I saw a fire wolf run by. It was only little, but it could run a lot faster than I could. I slunk back into my cave and spied on it. A snow Golem was following it. The little wolf wasn't scared, so it wasn't being chased. The Golem caught up to it and picked it up. His hand started to melt. The little wolf rolled around playfully. I was really confused as to what I was seeing.

**[If you want, you can suggest ideas for the Gunther bits. Or you could send in some one-shots. But I'm running out of penguin-related ideas and I could use some assistance.]**


	24. Chapter 24: A Party in the Woods

The Snow Golem was obviously in pain, but he still allowed the little wolf cub to play around on his large hand. I couldn't possibly understand the reason he would endure that kind of pain. Sure it was cute, but what else was it really useful for? As the golem stomped away, leaving a trail of water in-between footprints, I was still puzzled. Why would the Golem help out another creature for nothing in return? The sound of its footsteps grew faint in the distance. I realized that I was doing the same thing. I edited stories for free, just like Gunter provided everyone with fish for free. Just like Fionna saving everybody for free.

* * *

Marshall Lee flew Fionna the whole way there under the moonlight, being sure to show off his flying skills. Fionna was probably the only girl in the world that wasn't terrified of Bat Lee, especially given the fact that Cake wasn't poking her head out of the hat at all. Marshall barely knew where the party was, but he could echolocate a good party anywhere. He also knew that he had almost arrived because of the strong smell of candy. The vampire escort gently slung Fionna off of his back as he sucked his wings back into his regular-sized body. The fur, ears, and nose on his head receded until his features were normal. Muscle Prince was dancing with a large Gummy worm, Tree Trunks was hanging out with Ms. Pig, and Lumpy Space Prince was grinding his pencil mustache all over Cinnamon Bun. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. A female Maurader fight caught Marshall's attention. "This looks fun. A bunch! C'mon." He grabbed Fionna's hand again, this time more gently, and he led her into the heart of the party. He could practically feel Cake's overprotective vibe. Lumpy Space Prince, being the loud and obnoxious host, yelled for them across the field.

"Hey! Marshall Lee! Fionna! Get your lumps over here!" They obeyed, because with LSP, you just sort of have to. "Oh, yeah, I'm havin' a fun time. Probably the funnest time I ever had in my whole life!" He mumbled, swaying back and forth to the slow jazz music. It was fairly discordant, the band wasn't very good. Marshall couldn't see a band, craning his neck to look around. The stage was empty. Maybe it was just a stereo or something. They were now a part of LSP's little huddle. Everyone was swaying to the music. "Fionna! You're looking a little more lumpy! I like it!" Fionna grimaced and gave herself a once-over.

"You look fine, Fi." Marshall whispered to her.

"…I was gonna say that." Cake grumbled to herself. For someone who always wanted to hook her sister up with random princes, she sure felt threatened by Marshall's presence. As if the Cat and the Bat were competing for attention now. Gotta admit, Cake was clingy. She was currently dating Monochromicorn, and Fionna just let her go out and do whatever. But as soon as it was Fionna's turn to go on a date, she tried to micromanage the whole thing. Although, Marshall supposed, the sisters didn't know it was a date. He would just have to put up with Cake. He would have to get on good terms with her, eventually.

"At least everybody isn't like, _all over_ your lumps! I can't even get any space. Everybody just wants me." LSP crossed his arms over his chest. One of the Marauders came up behind the floating prince to ask if there was any more punch. She put a hand on his…shoulder-lump-thing and before she could say anything, LSP flipped out. "Get off of me! I know you want this body but you can't have it!" He gave her a weak punch to the shoulder, causing all of his knuckles to make a loud cracking noise. "Aaagh! My beautiful finger lumps!" He cried in pain as the Marauder backed away, confused. The prince floated there, grabbing his hand, wailing overdramatically for a long time. Which seemed even longer because of the awkwardness. Eventually, when he realized that he was fine, Lumpy Space Prince began chattering on and on as usual. Something about eating chili-fries with his ex-girlfriend, Brandi. And how Mel stole her away. And how his life was just a gigantic drama bomb. Marshall was rather bored with the conversation, when he realized that LSP had been at the Gumball Ball.

"Hey, LSP? What did you think about the Gumball Ball?" Marshall knew that Lumpy Gossip Prince was bound to tell him something of value.

"That party was laaaame! The only fun part was Cake."

Cake poked more of her head out of Fionna's hat. "Damn straight!"

"Ice Queen came and crashed the whole thing, all like 'LSP I want your lumps' but I was like 'If you like these lumps, you gotta put a ring on it!' but I totally don't want her to because she's lumping crazy! And she started freezing people and it was just, like, so awful."

Well. That didn't really give Marshall anything that he didn't already know. Except that Simone had frozen a few people. But that didn't tell him what her plan was to begin with. Or why Fionna was so shaken up by it. She was trying to keep a straight face.

"So, anyway, you guys are like, dating now? You're such a cute couple, guys."

Fionna choked and stuttered, unable to make a sentence. Two embarrassing topics within ten seconds. Leave it to LSP.

"No, they ain't." Cake was the first to speak. She never wanted to see her sister in love with a vampire. She never wanted to see her sister become a vampire. Marshall grimaced, but quickly regained composure before anybody could notice. He was about to change the subject, because he knew how uncomfortable it made Fionna, when his blood went cold. He looked around, but because he was trying to be discreet, he couldn't take a good look. The boombox that had been playing stopped.

"Awww, guys. We listened to all the music, and now my party sucks." The host pouted. Marshall was beginning to lose his patience with the whiny purple lump. "Hey, Marshall Lee! Why don't you play a song?"

Marshall jumped at the opportunity for three reasons. To show off for Fionna, to get away from LSP, and to get a view of the crowd to see who caused his chill.

"Yep. Let's do it!" Marshall took Fionna's hand again, and walked her up to the stage.

**[Oh, look! Another chapter! You're totally welcome. **

**#FULLOFMYSELF**

**Thanks to Maguffium239 for some helpful ideas.]**


	25. Chapter 25: Good Little Girl

"YOU GUYS! MARSHALL LEE IS GONNA PLAY A SONG, YOU GUYS!" LSP shouted as they approached the stage. Marshall spun the guitar around so that instead of hanging on his back, it sat at his hip, waiting to be played. The entire party cheered his name. His hands automatically went to the chords for his latest song. It was still unfinished, but he was pretty good at improvisation. Fionna stood beside him awkwardly.

"Follow my lead." He whispered to her. He began to play the chords, and little skeleton butterflies in the crowd backed him up with their little ukuleles. He struck a few poses, waiting for her to copy before moving to the next, and with the last pose he began to wiggle his butt.

"Hey!" Fionna said playfully before shoving him off balance. He began to play the song, floating in midair.

"Good little girl," He sang, noticing that Fionna and Cake were lending their voices to the song. "Always picking a fight with me, you know that I'm bad, but you're spending the night with me," Fionna must've told Cake to be nice to him beforehand. Cake grew in size until she was standing on Fionna's head, wearing her hat. Fionna's hair fell to the stage, which Marshall was sure every man in the crowd melted at the sight of. Cake was now shaped like her sister, dancing as she pleased. "What…Do you want, from my world, you're a good little girl." Marshall threw down his guitar and floated up to Cake. He grabbed her gently and began to twirl around in a dance. The ukuleles were still backing up the song, and Fionna began to sing.

"Bad little boy," the crowd cheered for their favourite hero. Even Marshall was impressed by her singing voice. And her ability to just jump into a song she didn't know. "That's what you're acting like. I really don't buy… That you're that kind of guy." As Marshall spun Cake around in a dance that both of them were wary of, he noticed a group of ghosts floating above the trees, spectating. Wendell, BooBoo, and Georgina. If they saw that he was being a nice guy… Marshall endured a split second of panic. They were probably here to spectate upon the ruler of the vampires, and they would probably report back to the Nightosphere. Marshall really wasn't in the mood to cause another uprising, so he had to think fast. "And, if you are," Marshall rolled cake smoothly into a dip. Her eyes were closed, while he let himself slide into autopilot, his eyes red pupils surrounded by black. Hopefully it would be just enough to get the ghosts off of his trail. He knew that he would regret it. "Why do you want to hang out with me?" He hissed and bared his teeth, and Fionna ran over to save her sister. Marshall floated upwards, laughing. Even though that was the opposite of what he wanted to do when he saw the hurtful look that Fionna was giving him and the angry, disappointed look from Cake. The moonlight illuminated his silhouette.

"Don't you know I'm a villain?" He closed his eyes leaned back comfortably as if he were lying on a floor. "Every night I'm out killin', Sendin' everyone running like children?" That part wasn't necessarily true. He was torn between showing off for Fionna and showing off for his fellow demons. "I know why you're mad at me. I've got demon eyes," He opened them to let everybody in the crowd see him, menacing and fierce. "And they're staring right through your anatomy." He began to twist in the air, floating back down to the stage. "Into your deepest fears, baby I'm not from here. To me you're clear, transparent." He landed daintily on the stage in front of them. "You've got a thing for me girl, it's apparent."

Cake ran up in front of him, yelling "Oh! OH!" She pushed him out of the way, and began to sing her own song about potatoes or something. She started to wiggle her butt to the crowd, and Fionna walked up to Marshall. She didn't look mad. She had probably just assumed he was playing around, as he usually was.

"You're not so bad, you know." Fionna had tucked her hair back into her hat. Again, Marshall was surprised how much hair she could hide in there.

The ghosts could probably still hear him. "Not so bad, huh? I'm the son of a demon. And, the Vampire King. It's not something I have to try at." It was pretty easy to be either way for Marshall, really. He was Chaotic neutral. But his default setting was supposed to be evil. "You on the other hand…" He was unsure if he could tell her the reasons he was acting out. Would it scare her? He didn't want to tell her that he was in love with her. Or that he was scared for her safety. He was really confused as to what he should do at the current moment in time.

"I'm not trying to be bad. I'm hanging out with you because you're my _friend_." The way she accentuated 'friend'… He was pretty deep into the friend zone. But he was the Vampire King. Maybe he could charm his way out of it.

He pulled out another Cream puff, the white dust coating his fingers. "What, like him?" He blew the icing sugar into Fionna's face. She sputtered and waved the air around her head.

"No! Different!" She lunged at him, but he stepped out of the way. She corkscrewed to the ground. So…even though she felt weird around Gumball, she still liked him. Marshall was confused, the only part he understood was that she was either playing hard to get, or actually didn't feel that way about Marshall. With a smile, Fionna kicked his feet out from under him.

"Oh, No!" He said sarcastically, floating on his back casually. As he laughed, he wondered whether this little fight was helping or hindering him regarding the Ghost Gang. But it was a mistake to let your guard down around Fionna. An elbow dug into his stomach, flattening him on the ground. Out of reflex, he kicked. His foot collided with the Adventuress's face, sending her sliding across the stage. The Ghost Gang was still watching. Everybody was. The trio were up on stage. The skeletal butterflies stopped playing, leaving silence for the vampire to chuckle. It hurt him to hurt her, but if he didn't display his dominance, he feared that she would be hurt a lot worse.

**[It's difficult trying to figure out where to cut these chapters. I'm sorry. I just always try to keep them anywhere from 1000 words to 1400 words, so that they're a decent size. More will come soon. Don't worry. IT'S OKAY.**

**Hah. Being funny. Hah.]**


	26. Chapter 26: Not So Bad, Huh?

Cake returned to her normal form as she ran between them, arms spread protectingly. "Hey, break it up you two!" In a split-second impulse, auto- Marshall decided to push Cake out of the way.

"Outta my way, kitty." Cake tumbled into a bush as Marshall neared his 'date'.

Fionna gasped. "Hey!" She ran to the bush where her sister had fallen.

"Oh, come on! That was funny!" Obviously Fionna didn't agree. When Marshall parted the bushes and followed, Fionna was picking up her sister.

"Come on, let's get outta here." Fionna walked away in a huff. Maybe Cake was right about Vampires. It was a shame… Fionna had been enjoying herself. For a little while, she had forgotten about the whole Gumball ordeal.

"Hey!" He floated to catch up. "C'mon…Where you going?" Fionna ignored him. "What's the deal?" He choked on his words a little bit. He wasn't sure whether he was protecting her or hurting her at this point. "You're missing the party." He felt it was easier to protect her in a crowd. Still no reply. She kept her nose in the air, looking away from Marshall.

"Look, I don't care if you're being a jerk to _me_, but _nobody_ messes with Cake." Content in her owner's arms, the cat smiled snidely at Marshall. He deserved it, but that didn't mean that he wasn't hurt by it. He acted on impulse again. Autopilot.

Marshall Lee smiled as he circled behind the girl, until he was nearly in front of her. "Oh! Really? Well, what if I just take her right now, you know?" He grabbed the cat and floated upwards. Both of the girls were too shocked to react.

"What!?" Fionna looked at the vampire with confusion masking her face.

He turned to look at Fionna over his shoulder. "Unexpected!" He began to laugh maniacally.

"MARSHALL!" Fionna became enraged. There was no reason why he would have to act this way. And if there was, he'd better have a decent explanation. She chased after him as he flew into a graveyard, landing on a decrepit old tomb. "Cake!" Fionna yelled across the graveyard.

"You want your Cake back? Come. And. GET HER!" He raised his arm in the air, causing a bolt of lightning to strike behind him. He summoned the skeletons from their graves, watching Fionna gasp at the stirring earth.

She looked back and forth, eyeing the old weapons that were jutting out of the ground. Most of them were spears, and she hadn't any practice with those. A skeleton began to beatbox behind Marshall. He was making fun of her beatboxing now? What was this guy's deal? His eyes were red again. "Did you think I was lying? I said I'm evil without even trying," The skeletons were almost completely unearthed. Fionna hopped across headstones to try and evade them. She had to reach her sister. "Already dead, so I'm not scared of dying. Drinking the red from your heart in one sitting," A skeleton headed off the Adventuress. She was forced to stop and throw a punch. "You think you've got me pegged, you _must_ be kidding!" She smashed in the skulls of two skeletons expertly, as they were rather slow. She grabbed the handle of a blade that was sheathed to one of their backs. "I raise the dead up, and they do my bidding. Girl, I'm a thousand years old, I'm a riddle." Cake watched the skeletons encircle her sister from the arms of the vampire. Fionna was holding out the blade in one hand, the sheath in the other, on her toes, waiting for an opportunity. "I'm a bad little boy, yes I'm bad, but not little." Seeing Fionna slash a few skeletons was hot. He knew that the ghosts were still watching, he could sense their presence. Maybe it would be easier for them to be a couple if Marshall just gave in and turned her.

"Uhn, uhh boy, what're you thinkin'?" Cake inquired, still struggling. It was almost as if she knew what he was thinking. She was right in not trusting him. Now she just hoped that her sister would see that, too. Cake grew in size, Marshall cackling. He had to admit, he was enjoying himself. He grew into a bat, squeezing and wrestling with the cat. At this point, the only thing to do was go with the flow. He was a little worried that things would get out of hand… But he was doing it for their own good. Even if he didn't want to tell them that.

With a few well-placed slashes, Fionna decapitated at least three skeletons within one second. As she ran toward the tomb that the wrestlers were on top of, she ran the blade through a nearby skeleton's ribcage and impaled it into the ground, pinning it like a butterfly in a collection.

"Fionna! Grab my little paws!" Cake managed to say while the air was being squeezed out of her. Her paws extended outward from the magical mass of cat and bat. Fionna tugged on Cake's paws, effectively releasing her from Marshall's grip. He lost his balance and fell forward onto one of the many spears that were jutting out of the soil with a sickening splat noise. The spear grazing his ribcage snapped Marshall out of auto-pilot. He squeaked in pain and shrunk down to his normal self, even though it didn't hurt that much. There he lay, 'impaled' on top of the tomb. The only thing that was impaled were the mass amounts of sugary treats that were oozing against his right side. His breathing was shallow and pained, trying to lure her in.

"Marshall?" Fionna quickly picked herself up and dashed to him. All of the anger she had felt a moment ago was quickly replaced with concern.

"Oh, this is bad guys." He was almost whispering. Fionna frantically clambered up the side of the tomb. Cake followed after, and they both knelt down beside the wounded vampire. "This is really bad." The sun began to rise.


	27. Chapter 27: The Start Of Something

**[GUESS WHO'S BACK! (Temporarily) Hopefully you don't hate me too much, because this chapter is a little long.**

"Marshall!" Fionna sat there, astounded. What could possibly have prepared her for this situation? There was a wet blotch forming around the spear on his shirt. As the sun's rays began to find their way over the landscape, Marshall's skin simmered. He exhaled weakly. Hopefully the ghosts had gone back home. Cake stretched around him to block the light. Marshall was a little surprised that she would do that, after what he had just done. Fionna leaned in closer. "Come on! You _gotta_ be okay!" Marshall squinted at her and gave a feeble chuckle. His armpit was going to be unpleasantly sticky.

"I think this is it for me, Fionna. So…" He gasped for air. "…Why don't you just admit it? You're in _love_ with me." She gasped, and sadly, slowly bowed her head. She inhaled, trying to keep it together.

"I get that you flirt with me all the time, and it's funny and whatever," Tears began to flow. "But you're doing that now?!" She grabbed the sides of her hat, practically bawling. "What are you trying to do to my head?! You think I've got some little _crush_ on you?!" She blinked away a few tears. Marshall was taken aback. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to happen, but tears weren't what he wanted to see. "Well, for whatever time we have left… FOR ONCE DROP IT, YOU FREAK!" This had gone too far. Marshall shot up, and removed the spear as fast as he could.

"Faking it. Faking it!" He threw away the spear and unbuttoned his shirt. "Okay, my shirt is like, _filled _with cream puffs!" They leaked out with a goosh noise.

"Oh, Goodness!"Cake stopped holding her breath. Now she wouldn't have to take her sister in for therapy. Fionna stared on in disbelief.

"Glob, Fionna." He wiped the sweat from his forehead. "You're like, the _realest_ person I've ever met!" Suddenly her fist collided with his cheek. "AUH! MY CHEEK-MEAT!" He grabbed at the red spot on his face. Fionna had snapped. She raised her fists, crying and laughing. "Quit clownin', Fionna." She came in closer and closer. "Fionna? FIONNA!" She continued to hit him, laughing away. Cake smiled at the sight. Maybe Fionna would need some therapy, after all.

* * *

And that's where I had to stop freeloading off of Marceline's ideas. And, maybe start the romance. The problem was that I didn't know anything about romance. Even though I helped Ice King edit a few of his stories, that didn't help me out much. I massaged my temple, my creative juices were a little congested. I cracked my flippers, stretched out my flippers, and sighed back into my seat. I'd surely think of something.

* * *

As she went in for another punch, Marshall caught her wrist and put his feet on her stomach. He used her momentum against her and caused them both to tumble off of the tomb. He floated them gently down to the ground, his cheek still red. Now that he was in the shade, he could move around freely. "This looks like a cool place to chill." He gestured with his head toward the door of the tomb. "VAMPIRE KICK!" He yelled, before kicking the stone doors in and landing gracefully on the balls of his feet .Fionna definitely wanted to learn how to do that one day. He floated inside a little bit, then turned to face her. "Coming?" His voice echoed. Fionna seemed angry again as she followed him inside, stepping over the chunks of broken stone that littered the stairs. She caught up to him.

"I know that you're not a bad dude. So why did you act like that?"

Marshall was unsure if he really wanted to tell her everything. So he kept her on a need-to-know basis. "Some of my old ghost friends were in the crowd tonight. They don't like to see me hanging out with mortals."

"So you had to attack my sister!?"

"I mean, they really don't like it. And if they saw me being normal, nice-guy Marshall, they might've started a fight."

"So? I could totally take 'em!" She punched her fist into her hand.

Marshall laughed. "You think so? How can you beat someone you can't hit?" He dissolved into thin air, his smile disappearing last.

"I can still hit you, ya know!" Fionna said before swinging a few punches and kicks in the air. She was always so forgiving, it was her strength and her flaw. A regular girl would still be mad at him. But Fionna wasn't regular. The first few attacks were easily dodged by Marshall, but the last kick smacked into his already bruised cheek.

He became visible again. "Oww! That's still tender!" They both laughed for a while. Once they could breathe again, there was an awkward silence.

"Hey, Marshall?"

"Yeah?"

"Why would you think that I loved you?" The silence came again. Marshall was actually never sure whether she did or not. He said that because he wanted to try and figure it out.

"I wasn't sure. I just wanted to know."

"Well, I love Gumball. Everyone knows that." She blushed. Although, Fionna was unsure of herself. Gumball was vulnerable, and he wasn't interested in her affection. He was interested in protection, both political and physical. He just wanted to be one of the few princes in the Aaa who had a wife.

"Do you really?" She was silent. "How come?" Still no answer. Marshall put a hand on her shoulder "He's no good for you, ya know."

Suddenly Cake stretched down from the ceiling and landed between the two. "Oh, and you are!?" She spread out her arms protectively like she had an hour before. Cake, on the other hand, _was_ a regular girl.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Cake looked at him like he was stupid. He realized that it was a stupid question to ask her right after what he had just done.

"Do I really have to answer that?"

Fionna still didn't understand why her sister disliked Marshall so much. "Cake. He was only protecting me." Cake turned to look at her sister.

"From what? He sent an army of skeletons after you! He's a bad dude, how many times do I hafta tell you that!?"

"You don't understand, Cake. If you could just listen-" Fionna was interrupted.

"I definitely understand. We're getting the duck outta here, girl." Cake grabbed Fionna's wrist and yanked her toward the stairs going out of the tomb. Cake knew the early signs of love, and it was time to put a stop to this.

Marshall placed his feet on the ground. "What's your problem with me? All of a sudden you decided that you hate me."

"I wasn't ever best friends with you. That was her." She gestured with her head toward her sister.

"But the past week you're suddenly all overprotective. It's pretty lame."

"I don't care. We're sisters and there's nothing you can do about it." She started dragging Fionna back up the stairs, and they both struggled against each other's strength the whole time.

"Cake, stop!" Fionna looked back at the vampire as if to say 'sorry'. Cake had to grow in size to keep dragging her sister along.

"Well, if I'm gonna be stranded here all day can you at least grab me my guitar?" Marshall called after them.

"Yeah, I will." The echo of Fionna's voice and footsteps were the last thing he heard for a while. At least Fionna wasn't mad at him anymore. Every time someone dragged the girl off like that it hurt him. He sighed and leaned against an old marble casket, rubbing the tender spot on his face. It was two-thirds healed already. After a few minutes, he heard footsteps echoing toward him. He saw Fionna with his guitar strap around her shoulder. She seemed as sad as he felt. She lifted the axe-guitar off her back, over her head, and onto him. But she didn't leave. She dug in her backpack and placed out a little bag of strawberries, an apple, and some miscellaneous red candy that she found lying at the bottom of the bag on top of the casket he was leaning against.

"It surprises me how much stuff you fit in there." They smiled at each other. Suddenly, Fionna's arms were squeezing his ribcage and her head was buried in his chest. Sticky creampuffs smeared all over her face through the hole in his shirt. It took him a few seconds of surprise before he returned it. He had a good view of the stitches on her neck. It reminded him that she was still recovering, and he felt guilty for having to put her through so much. A wizard attack, and then an army of undead skeletons.

She mumbled into his shirt. "I don't agree with her, ya know." Fionna could hear Marshall's small chuckle amplified through his chest.

"Neither do I." After a couple more seconds, he gently pushed her shoulders away. He saw how tired she looked after staying up all night partying with him, especially since she wasn't at full strength to begin with. "Now go home and get some sleep." She took a few steps up the stairs and looked back at him. "Shoo!" He made a shooing motion with his hand. She gave him a small smile before running back up the steps. Once he couldn't hear either of them, he began to absentmindedly strum the guitar. Fionna had never hugged him before.

**[Again, double-check for me for mistakes. I had a lot of free time to look this over, but I might still have missed things. Or put in things that you guys didn't really like. Let me know. I love you all for supporting me, and I've got another 1 & 1/2 chapters lined up. So don't worry.**

**-Wizards only, Fools. (Was anyone else annoyed that Huntress Wizard wasn't a big part of that episode?)]**


	28. Chapter 28: A Short Adventure

My eyes were bloodshot. I wasn't sure what day it was, but I was sure that I'd been writing for at least a solid 24 hours. I heard footsteps crunching in the snow outside of my little cave. And they weren't penguin... they were a little bigger. Maybe a little smaller than the Ice King. I closed my book and laid it on the floor quietly, along with the pencil. As I neared the mouth of the cave, I heard two voices that I recognized.

"So then, what are we gonna use for a sled?"

"I dunno, man. Not me. I'm freezin!"

"We... could try to build one out of snow." More crunching that I assumed was building.

"No, Finn! I keep tellin' ya that's not going to work." I peered out of the cave to see Finn and Jake standing in the snow, puzzling. I waddled slowly out of the cave.

"You could chisel one out of ice. I don't know how well it would work, but you could try it."

"What's it saying, Jake?" Finn eyed me curiously.

"He said: Wank, wank wank wank, wonk, wank. A lot." I slapped my flipper against my forehead.

"No." I slid on my stomach over to a patch of ice. I pointed at it. "Carve it." They just gave me blank looks again. I started tapping on the ice with my flipper, trying to imitate a chisel.

"I think it wants us to use ice as a sled." Finn said. I nodded. He pulled his backpack off of his shoulder.

"What the zip are ya lookin' for?" Jake tried to see what Finn was searching for.

Finn pulled out a hammer and a chisel, smiling. "Our sled." He began chiseling out a chunk of ice the width and length of a mattress. When he finished, he gestured to his brother. "Can ya lift this, Jake?"

"Sure thing, man." Jake made his hands flat so that they would reach through the cracks, and grew in size to lift it out of the rectangular pit in the ice. He set it down right beside the open hole. "What now?"

"Now we curve it so that we can lay in it and the smooth part is at the bottom." Finn dug around in his backpack again. I was confused, because I thought he was just going to chisel it again, but then I assumed that it would take far too long. It took him a whole 15 minutes just to get the original block. He pulled out a small red ring. "Power ring!" He aimed it at the block, then a burst of flame whooshed over it and made a concave shape out of the top.

"OOH! OOH! I wanna do the rest!" Jake ran over to his brother and held his hand out.

"Okay, bro." He slipped the ring onto his brother's finger.

"WoooHoo!" Jake yelled as he made the sled's bottom convex. He grew in size so that he could carry it on his back. "Now let's find that awesome hill!"

"Yeah, man!" They began trudging off toward a large hill in the distance. I was still standing there, awkwardly. Finn looked back at me. "Hey, do you want to come?" I was taken aback. I never thought I would ever go sledding with heroes.

"Okay.." I waddled in their direction, when I heard a flapping noise behind me.

"Who's been jankin' up my ice fields?" The Ice King yelled down to us. He gasped when he spotted Finn and Jake. "_You_ two ice-blockers again?"

"Come on!" Finn yelled for me. I slid on my stomach and Jake put me on his shoulder. They started running, Finn barely keeping up with his brother. I held on for dear life as the dog jarred my beak. Frozen lightning bolts pierced the snowdrifts around us.

"You're in _my_ domain! You can't escape me! And...why do you have one of _my_ penguins?" The King's raspy voice echoed amongst the mountains. Finn and Jake laughed. They had fun adventures like this all the time. They kept running, and once we were at the peak of the hill, Jake began to shrink. Still running, he held the sled in front of him, grabbed Finn, then jumped into the air. The sled caught us as we landed, now barreling down the hill. I was in the middle, still holding on for dear life. "Hey! Don't ignore me!" Ice King sounded farther and farther away, his lightning bolts becoming less accurate. I looked back to see how quickly we were outrunning him.

"Oh, rhombus! The jump!"Jake yelled over the sound of the wind, and when I looked ahead again I saw a snowdrift angled went flying, and through the clear ice I could see that there was nothing below us except for a canyon. I screamed, then we landed inside of a tunnel in the ice. It was big and round, the boys rocked the sled back and forth, causing us to spiral around the inside. I was still screaming as we shot out the other side and fell at least ten feet. We crashed into a deep snowdrift and I was buried. Someone dug around for me, and grabbed one of my feet. Finn Yanked me out of the snow, dangling me in the air.

He pumped his other fist in the air. "Algebraic!" I was still upside down. I wasn't feeling too good.

"Finn, put the poor thing down." Jake shook the snow off of his jowls. I was set down, but I wasn't sure which way was up, north, or left. I waddled around dizzily before flopping over in the snow. That was enough fun for a lifetime.

**[This is hot off the press, most likely riddled with errors. So far, not many people have come out and pointed anything out, but I highly doubt that there aren't any. Thanks to Sagioca Helsker for ideas. You're a lifesaver!]**


	29. Chapter 29: Nightmares

**[Well, this chapter is... a lot different from anything I've ever written. And I'm not sure that I'll ever write another one like it. You'll see why.]**

Cake raced Fionna over to the candy kingdom. Fionna's dress billowed in the wind as she launched herself off of her sister's back. She landed quietly and peeked through the curtain, her nerves raking at her from the inside. The room was full of candy people, but the one person that caught her eye was a guy. Pale grey complexion, black shaggy hair that sat in all the right places, red plaid shirt. As he leisurely floated backward, he saw her peeking through the curtain. She waved at him, and when he stuck out his tongue and made the 'rock on' signal with his hand, her nervous feeling went away. She felt drawn to him, but as she was about to take a step inside, she couldn't move. She couldn't control her muscles as her head turned to see the Prince. She struggled to look at Marshall again, but the rest of the room disappeared except for Gumball. A bad feeling engulfed her as his smile grew wider and wider. "I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU." His voice was too loud, it hurt her ears.

"Well, here I am." Her voice was quiet and feeble. He led her back outside the curtain, and a feeling of dread grew inside her. Fionna had relived this moment many times.

"HA, HA! HEY, I WANT TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING." The lighting on his face became more and more dramatic.

"Okay." He took her hand and led her up the stairs curving around the outside of the tower.

Cake saw them going up the stairs. "Oooooh! Okay girl, I'll see ya later!" The cat headed inside to join the rest of the party. Every inch of Fionna's body screamed as she tried to resist, but she was unable to even frown. He gestured into the open door.

_Stop._

But something else was controlling her. She was facing his bed, with rose petals littered on the floor. "What? Hey… Is this your bedroom?" She turned back to face him just as he closed the door behind him.

"Fionna…" Gumball's voice was quieter now, but that didn't make her feel any better. His fingers found the top button of his shirt and undid it. "I have a mission for you." Her body moved against her will, her arms slowly reaching up to the second button on his shirt.

_Do something!_

She couldn't. Only one tear managed to escape her eye, but he didn't take notice. Her hands still undid the buttons. He smirked in satisfaction. She couldn't call for her sister, or for anybody else. All of the buttons on his shirt were undone now, and it slipped onto the ground. His overly sweet smell invaded her nostrils as her hands were magnetized to his bare chest, their eyes locked for a moment. He gently pushed her back further into the room and slipped off her hat. Her hair fell to the floor, and as she was being pushed closer to the bed, it was being stepped on and pulled. He reached around to unlace the back of the dress.

_Wake up!_

She was back against the wall beside the bed. Fionna was really beginning to hate the colour pink that surrounded her. Just then, the door burst open. And it was someone very unexpected. He glared at Gumball with red eyes, his converse shoes stepping into the room. Fionna wanted to cry out to him, but still had no control over herself. "And just what do you think you're doing, Bonamy?" Marshall asked before cracking his neck, teeth bared. Gumball tripped over the bed in fear, breaking the spell he had over Fionna. She reached up to hold the top of her dress loosely against her chest, regaining control of her body. The prince stuttered, but couldn't form a sentence. The feeling of dread left the girl as Marshall got nearer and nearer. He grabbed Gumball around the throat with one hand and lifted him. Marshall floated him out past the staircase, into the midnight breeze. "She's _my_ good little girl. Not yours." The vampire dropped the prince, and from Fionna's angle, it looked like he had fallen to the ground. The vampire looked back at her with his red eyes, nearly expressionless except for a hint of concern. "You okay?" She nodded, but she was lying. He floated over to her and tied the back of her dress back up. He picked up her hat and slipped it on top of her hair, which was still falling around her frame, dragging the rose petals around on the floor. She felt relieved, even though Gumball was probably lying broken on the ground below. He began to leave the room.

"Wait!" Fionna yelled after him. He turned to face her quickly. "Thank you." He floated back over to her, and they stared into each other's eyes. Fionna felt safe and warm, even though she was staring into a pair of eyes that had probably struck fear into the hearts of many. Suddenly his lips were on hers, and although it was surprising, she didn't flinch or protest. His arms were around her neck and her hands were running through his hair. After a little while that felt like a long time, he broke the kiss.

"Don't mention it."

* * *

Fionna woke with a loud gasp, shooting up so quickly that her cocoon sleeping bag fell off. She was shaky and sweaty. That dream was different from the ones she usually had. But why Marshall, of all people? It had been a recurring dream every night since the Gumball Ball, and each time it was a little bit different. Sometimes she would wake up earlier, sometimes she would have to watch the whole dream play out. Sometimes the dream would start off earlier, happier. Sometimes Ice Queen appeared and just watched. Or she would just rip off her disguise halfway through, but she wouldn't stop. Usually, nobody came to save her. Nobody was there to make her feel better. And she would usually wake up screaming. Fionna wasn't sure how she felt about the dream. Especially the part where Gumball died. But it felt better than it normally did. Warm sunrays fell across her face, and the clock in her room told her that it was noon. She had slept about four hours. She sighed and flopped back down into her bed, the ears of her hat brushing the headboard. Cake was still asleep, and for that, Fionna was glad. There was no way Fionna was falling back asleep after a dream like that. She quietly got dressed for the day, packed her bag, and grabbed an umbrella before she ran out the door.

**[Getting good, huh? This was odd for me to write, and I didn't want anyone reading this over my shoulder. But I'm hoping you guys appreciate it. I will consider ideas if you're willing to send them in, although they might not get incorporated for a while.**

**To SamhainKillz1223: That was technically a kiss. So there! *Runs out of room with noodle arms*]  
**


	30. Chapter 30: An Escort

Marshall was bored. He had eaten all of his food, and couldn't find anything interesting to play on his guitar anymore. He decided to sleep. He hovered over a marble casket, thankful that he didn't have to actually lay on it. He imagined that it would be fairly uncomfortable. He had barely fallen asleep when he heard his name echo through the tomb. He thought he was dreaming at first, but then echoing footsteps followed. He opened his eyes and could only see a silhouette. The light at the top of the staircase was the brightest he had seen in a long time. He usually wasn't awake at noon. "Hello?" He sat up and put his hand at his eyebrow level. He tried to squint into the light, but the shadow blob didn't make very much sense to him.

"Marshall Lee?" Fionna neared him, holding the umbrella in one hand.

His eyes had adjusted a little by this point, and he recognized her voice. "Fi? What are you doing here?"

She held up the black umbrella. "I thought maybe you wanted to go home." He nodded, eyes barely open, and slung his axe strap over one shoulder. It dangled loosely against his folded legs as he floated over to her. Fionna opened the umbrella and handed it to Marshall. "I also… couldn't sleep."

Marshall moved the umbrella so that it would shade him once he reached the light. He noticed that the cat wasn't around. "So, where's Cake?"

"Still asleep. Cats need a _lot_. Like, fourteen hours." They walked out into the light. Marshall couldn't see a thing. He bumped into Fionna and almost dropped his umbrella.

"Do you have any sunglasses in there?" He pointed at a bright green blotch that he assumed was Fionna's backpack. She dug around for a while.

"No, but I brought you some more food." She held out an apple. He went to reach for it, but accidentally knocked it out of her hand. She picked it up, and looked at the squinting vampire. "…Maybe I should walk you home." She grabbed his hand, making sure that she kept it in the shade. He enjoyed her warmth. Physical contact with Marshall made Fionna feel better after her weird dream. They walked and talked for a while, about random things that had no significance.

"Nah. Fudge is better."

"Well, if it's not red, I'm not interested."

"Can you even eat regular food?"

"I can, but it doesn't fill me up at all. It would only be for the taste."

"Have you ever had any meatloaf?"

"No, not that I remember."

"Well, BMO makes the best meatloaf ever. You'll have to come over sometime."

Marshall doubted that Cake would approve of him coming over. He stared off in the distance. "I think I see the cave."

"Yep, there it is." Fionna confirmed.

Marshall yawned loudly."You walk too slow." He scooped her up and she held the umbrella as he sped them into the cave and through the second-floor window to his bedroom.

"I'm exhausted. You expect me to run?" Fionna queried. Marshall set her down so that she was sitting on the windowsill. He leaned his guitar against his closet door. "You wouldn't understand. I mean, you just float." Then he undid the snap buttons on his shirt all at once in one ripping motion, while yawning. He tossed the shirt and umbrella on the floor, then flopped face-down on the bed with a groan. Marshall only laid on his bed when he was really tired, too tired to hover above it. Fionna sat on the windowsill awkwardly for about two minutes. "Ummm…Marshall?"

Marshall moaned 'what' into his pillow.

"How can you sleep without a blanket?"

"I don't really get cold." His voice was muffled because of the pillow. He moved his arms underneath his pillow, his elbows sticking out on either side. His shoulder blades protruded out of his smooth-skinned back. Fionna blushed a little bit. She sat down on the bed beside him. Both of them were unsure where to go from there. After another awkward silence, Fionna dug around in her bag and found a small blanket. She laid the blanket loosely on top of him. It covered only the inside of his knees to his shoulders. She climbed down the ladder to the main floor, eyes barely open. She adjusted her position on the couch, unable to get comfortable. But there was no way she was going to go all the way back home to sleep. She fluffed the pillows and put one underneath her head, using her backpack as a really small blanket. Eventually, she fell asleep again.

**[Sorry, short chapter. But this is the only place where it made sense to cut it. Now that we're progressing more into the fluff, I have no idea what I'm doing. So bear with me.]**


	31. Chapter 31: Facing Fears

Marshall was extremely comfortable. Blankets really made a difference. He wondered if Fionna had fallen asleep on his couch. He recalled that it was really uncomfortable. And Fionna needed her rest more than he did. He remembered seeing Ashley slice into the side of her neck, the blood that soaked her shirt as he tried to revive her. He floated up off of his bed, blanket hanging around his shoulders like a cape. He ventured down to the living room, and sure enough, she was asleep on the couch. Wasn't she having difficulty sleeping earlier? How in the world did she manage to fall asleep on his really uncomfortable couch? Maybe she was just _that _exhausted. Or maybe it was something about the change in location. Nevertheless, he took the green backpack off of her torso and placed it on the floor. He draped the blanket over her and gently picked her up. She tensed for a second, then mumbled something that he couldn't understand. He floated her back up the ladder and placed her gently on the left side of his bed. Marshall slid his only pillow underneath her head. He tried to find the position he was in before. As his eyes closed, the last thing he saw was a perfect view of the scar on her neck. It left him with a horrible weight in his heart.

* * *

"Hey MarMar. Wake up!" Marshall opened his eyes at the sound of Fionna's voice. He was confused. She never used a nickname when talking to him before. He was floating above his bed with his arms crossed over his chest. It was how he usually slept, but when he fell asleep this afternoon he was too exhausted to float. He sat up and looked at her. She was wearing a tuxedo.

"What the heck…"

"Come on! Get dressed! We're going out to see Heat Signature!" Fionna threw a white frilly dress onto the bed. "Wait… Are you kidding?" A transparent version of himself whizzed past, repeating him quickly and in a high-pitched voice. "Wait, are you kidding?!" As Marshall looked on in disbelief, everything changed. They were now in the treehouse. Marshall floated awkwardly in his baggy pajama pants as he watched Cake and Lord Monochromicorn get a little personal. There was a lot of cuddling. Lord Monochromicorn became teal with light green stripes. His head ballooned while his limbs sucked back into his body, but Cake didn't seem to notice at all. MonochromiWorm began making a WAOWAOWAOWAO noise.

Marshall put his palm on his forehead. "Don't tell me it's another one of _these_ dreams." Marshall rarely got dreams. And most of the times that he did, they were magically induced. He knew exactly what he was up against. "Hey! I'm gonna kick your butt!" He yelled at the large worm. It slithered out of the window that had shifted its way behind it. Marshall had to dispatch the worm quickly. He didn't have a large supply of life energy to begin with, so he couldn't waste any time. The worm would feed on him until Marshall was too weak to fend for himself. Cake was still busy rubbing her face against nothing, and Marshall stood on the windowsill behind her. It was daylight outside. How was he going to chase after the worm? He thought up an umbrella and jumped. But instead of plummeting to the ground, he started falling upward. The gravity had been reversed! He flew downward, but his umbrella caught the wind and flew out of his grip. Marshall flinched as the sunlight flooded the space around him. He was falling upward again, but he realized that the sunlight wasn't affecting him. He looked at his hands in the sunlight. "Cool!" He smiled and whizzed toward where the worm was last seen. Escaping the dream was easier if the worm was closer to him.

Marshall blinked for a split-second, and then everything was different again. He was inside the Ice Queen's castle. There was a swarm of penguins making 'wank' noises on the floor.

"Marceline! Help me!" The muffled Queen's voice emanated from the penguin pile.

"Marceline...?" Marshall saw his reflection in one of the ice-walls. His hair was down to the floor. He was wearing a grey tank-top, blue jeans, and red cowboy boots. But most importantly, he was a girl. A hot girl. "Whoa…" Marshall hadn't seen his reflection in around 1000 years. He floated toward the ice, touching his face, her face.

"HEEEEEEEEELP!" The muffled cry reminded him that the Queen was still buried. He grabbed hold of her and pulled her upright. Except she wasn't a girl anymore. She was an old man with a long beard, her dress replaced with a tunic. But her voice still remained the same. "Thanks, Marceline." Marshall shook his head and returned to the reflection. It wasn't only him in the reflection this time. It was everyone he knew, but they were all gender-swapped. Bonamy as a girl… It suited him a lot. There was a boy in blue with a bear hat that he assumed was Fionna. There was a dog standing next to him. Marshall had never figured Fionna as a dog person. And there was a worm. It was little, but he knew it was the right one. He started to search himself for subconscious fears. Giant scissors flew toward his head, and he narrowly missed them. His hair, however, did not. As he held the bundles of his dismembered hair, he realized that this fear wasn't enough. His axe-guitar suddenly smashed against a wall. Marshall squeaked, almost in pain at the sight of it. He burst into flame, his body becoming dark, brittle charcoal, dried in the sun. Still not enough. He regained his normal state.

The worm in the reflection was barely withered. "Hey, that's enough now."

"Lump you. Do you know how many times you've tried this already?" Marshall said rather calmly. A ghost version of himself whizzed past. "Lump You!" it said in a squeaky voice. Marshall closed his eyes and focused. When he opened them, he was surrounded by red mountains. There were hooded vampires all around him. He mentally kicked himself. This wasn't scary at all. He slowly looked around himself, scanning for the part that was scary. Hooded vampire, hooded vampire, hooded vampire. He was more powerful than all of them, anyway. Hooded vampire, hooded vampire holding one of Fionna's wrists, Hooded vampire holding the other. "Oh, glob." There it was. His stomach dropped to his feet, then crawled up his throat. The look of fear on Fionna's face was what really did it for him. Marshall barely kept himself together at the sight. The landscape cracked slightly. He choked as his throat closed up, but he managed to choke out a "Leave her alone!" His face was getting hot.

"We will." One of them smiled from underneath its hood. "Afterward." They tossed Fionna into the ring with Marshall. Large cracks appeared in the ground. She stumbled, but caught herself. A wrinkled worm poked its head out of the crack, and began to make a soft WAOWAOWAO noise in the background.

"What do they want?" Fionna whispered to him.

"Uhhh…K...tch...ah,h..." He couldn't tell her, and he was trying to keep from trembling. His forehead was getting sweaty.

"I thought you didn't get scared!" Fionna was getting more and more frightened by the second. He bit the inside of his wrist and shoved it into her mouth. She gagged and pushed it away, her mouth red. "What the duck!?" He grabbed her by the shoulders and looked in her eyes.

"It'll be okay, Fi." But his pupils had turned red. Fionna gasped in pain as his fangs found their way into her neck. The world around Marshall cracked away until there was only blackness, like his usual sleeping. A raspy vampire voice echoed in his head.

_Long live the king._

**[Well, I'm not really sure whether I liked or disliked this chapter. But I guess what really matters is whether the reader likes it or not. It would've been a lot easier if there was an episode I could've basically copied and added on to like I did with 'Bad Little Boy', but sadly Marceline isn't in the episode 'King Worm' at all. There's still a few characters that I need to get in this story a little more: The Ghost Gang, Harley Abadeer, Ice Queen, and Schwabelle the zombie cat. This story still has a long way to go, and I'm surprised that it's already this long. I could make this into a book. Seriously, there is so much material here already.]**


	32. Chapter 32: He Finally Did It

**[THE WAIT IS OVER! I'm finally back and this chapter is a little bit short. Writing basically helps me remain calm during the schoolyear, and I hope reading does the same for you!]**

Marshall's eyes flicked open. He realized that Fionna had the right side of her body draped over his chest. The scar on her neck was still perfectly visible to him, the same side of her neck that he had bit her on. In his dream. He must've flipped over in his sleep. He saw a little worm slink behind a corner, defeated. But Marshall didn't feel victorious. He was still shaken about what had happened in his dream. He propped himself up with one arm, running his opposite hand through his hair. He felt sweaty. It took a lot to get his undead body to sweat. Fionna groaned at his movement, sliding a little further down on his chest. "Hey, is this your bedroom?" she grumbled. Marshall assumed she was having some sort of weird teenage fantasy about Gumwad. Not that he didn't have teenage fantasies, but Marshall didn't like seeing her think about Gumwad like that. He was about to wake her up, but she started sobbing. His hand hovered above her shoulder as tears trailed down his chest. What in the heck could she be dreaming about? He decided to continue waking her up.

"Fionna…" He whispered, gently shaking her arm. "Fionna!" He said a little louder. She grabbed his hand off of her shoulder and twisted it as far as she could before Marshall even realized what happened.

"Stop, globdamit!" Tears ran down Fionna's face as she knelt there beside Marshall, his arm at an angle that forced him to bend over so that it wouldn't pop out of place. She realized where she was and calmed down.

"Hey, you mind?" Marshall asked with a strained tone.

"Oh! Sorry!" She let him go.

He rubbed his shoulder with the opposite hand. "What is it with you and waking up all violent? Sheesh!" He looked at her, and she looked a little guilty. Her eyes flitted downward, avoiding contact with his. "Why couldn't you sleep before? …Is this the same thing?" Marshall questioned her.

"It's kind of embarrassing…"

"More embarrassing than the time your skirt got caught on that minotaur's horn and it ripped off?" Marshall chuckled. Fionna smiled and lightly punched his shoulder.

"I guess not. I just…had a bad dream."

He could tell that she didn't want to talk about it. "Awww, Bunny!" He said sarcastically before turning on his side so that he could hug her with both arms. "Don't worry. I'm scarier than any bad dream."

"Wait…How is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"I mean, like… I scare away bad dreams." Marshall was mostly convincing himself at that point.

"Oh." It was awkward, but Fionna was comfortable. She was surprised that she didn't feel wrong in this kind of situation. Marshall figured that now was as good a time as any… But the problem was that he wasn't sure how to say it. He decided to play it smooth.

"I have something embarrassing, too. To say, I mean." So much for playing it smooth. "I also had a bad dream." He paused for emphasis. Fionna looked like she was about to ask what it was about, but he cut her off by taking her hands. "I dreamt that I lost you." He locked eyes with hers, and she looked utterly shocked. "And it feels like that pretty much whenever we're apart."

"Dude…" Fionna couldn't even manage a sentence.

"And I want to make sure that I never lose you. Ever." There was a long silence.

Fionna blushed. "Did you just…"

"Yeah." Silence again. Marshall subconsciously bit his bottom lip in anticipation.

"Marshall, do you really, really, for serious feel that way about me?" Sometimes Fionna thought that Marshall didn't know when he was crossing the line with his jokes.

"I'll see you at nightfall. How about the cemetery?"

"I… I d-don't…" Fionna stuttered. Marshall floated her down the ladder and handed her the backpack.

"I'll see you then." He smiled at her, then pushed her out the door and closed it. Fionna stood there, dumbfounded, backpack in her arms. She stared at the closed door, trying to decide if that actually just happened. After about a minute, she slowly began to make her way back home, face still locked in that shocked position. She didn't even put her backpack back on. By the time Fionna got back home it was the hottest point in the day. Cake obviously wasn't very happy.

"Where were ya, girl? Gumball's been callin' all day! We were supposed to go get some more Cyclops tears today."

Fionna didn't even respond. She gently slid her backpack onto the table, clanking dishes together.

"Are you ignorin'me? Nuh-uh, I ain't takin' none of that." Fionna sat down on the nearest chair. Cake tapped her foot for a while, waiting for an answer. But Fionna didn't do anything except stare with her dumbfounded expression. Eventually Cake's impatience turned into concern. "What happened out there, girl? You okay?"

Fionna nodded slowly.

"So then what?" Cake came and sat down in the seat across the table.

"I got a date tonight." Fionna blushed.

"What!? With who?!" Cake slammed her paws down on the table in excitement.

"…Marshall Lee." Fionna blushed harder.

Cake tried to hide her disdain, and decided to trust Fionna with boys for once. "Well, what do you wanna wear?"

"I was just gonna wear this… Marshall's not really big with fancy stuff."

"At least lemme do some makeup."

"Ugggh… Fine." Fionna knew it was no use fighting her sister. Cake would find a way to get that makeup on, whether it was pleasant or not. Cake smiled.

"Just a little. You'll look fabulous, don't you worry!" Fionna smiled, too. Maybe Cake was finally getting over her sudden mistrust of Marshall.

**[ALSO I might be starting a collab Bubbline story with my friend, LyssieBee. Because I'm already doing this one, I don't know how far we'll get, but I'll try to make it half-decent. So if that's your scene, keep an eye out.]**


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